Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 29, 2018:  His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) inaugurated the DHA online media channel during his tour of the 43rd edition of the Arab Health Congress. 

The DHA online media channel known as Sahaa Wa Saada (Health and Happiness) can be downloaded from the app store or google play. The app is called DHA Media and provides users with a wide variety of content such as live coverage of DHA’s conferences and events, prevention tips for lifestyle diseases, awareness videos etc.

His Excellency Humaid Al Qutami, Chairman of the Board and Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority, said: “In line with the vision of our leaders and in line with the Dubai Health strategy 2016-2021, we are keen to develop initiatives that promote healthy lifestyle and wellbeing. Prevention and healthy lifestyle is an important pillar of the DHA strategy and the launch of this online media channel stems from our goal to promote a healthy environment through community engagement.

“Providing the public with important health information can encourage them to adopt a healthy lifestyle. We hope that they will benefit from this information, which is now easily accessible on their smart devices.”

Al Qutami, added: “There is no doubt that poor lifestyle choices are directly linked to the prevalence of lifestyle diseases which are a global burden on health systems and negatively affect the lives of individuals and their families. Through such initiatives we aim to encourage the community to adopt healthier lifestyles and take charge of their health.”

Talking about the healthcare trends of the Emirate and the outlook for the health sector in the medium to long term, Al Qutami said: “Dubai provides encouragement and support for private sector investment and participation in the health sector, and this has resulted in significant growth in utilisation of health services in the private sector. The private sector accounted for over 75% of outpatient services and 70% of inpatient services in 2016. We expect to see continued rise in investments in innovative primary care models (especially ambulatory care and urgent care clinics) to address the demands of the under-served segments and for new residential communities in South Dubai.” 

Al Qutami said that large investments are expected in specialised centres and centres of excellence for specialised services that will provide access to high quality health services to UAE nationals, residents and visitors.

He added that Dubai is currently developing a Clinical Services Capacity Plan that looks into the demand, supply and gaps for health services and manpower over the next 30 years, which will be completed in early 2018. 

“This will provide us with quantifiable information on investment priorities, and accordingly, efforts will be made to drive, support and encourage investments from the private sector, as well as foster partnerships to deliver health services that address the needs and gaps in the health sector,” said Al Qutami.