• The project is in collaboration with private sector insurers and aims to provide free health insurance cover to more than 100 people with financial constraints. 
• The insurance will cover a maximum sum of AED 150,000 per person insured. 
• Authority revisits several DHA initiatives undertaken in 2018 to mark the Year of Zayed. 

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 19, 2018:   The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched the Year of Zayed Insurance Card project. The project is in collaboration with private sector insurers and aims to provide free health insurance cover to more than 100 people with financial constraints. 

The Year of Zayed Insurance card will cover a maximum sum of AED 150,000 per person insured. 

HE Humaid Al Qutami, Director General of the DHA announced this initiative at a ceremony held to revisit all the activities DHA organised during the Year of Zayed.  The year 2018 marks 100 years since the birth of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Founding Father of the UAE.

Al Qutami said, “The Year of Zayed has helped us reinforce all the values and principles embodied by Sheikh Zayed.  Our Founding Father was known regionally and globally for his humanity, generosity and charity. Under the guidance of our leaders, DHA aims to continue the legacy of our Founding Father. This year we organised a series of initiatives to mark the Year of Zayed. The UAE is known globally for its philanthropic work and we will continue our humanitarian initiatives to the best of our ability.”

The ceremony took place at Al Ettihad museum. HE Mohammed Al Murr, Chairman of the Board of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Library Establishment, HE Bilal Al Budoor, Chairman of Culture and Scientific Association and  HE Eng. Khalfan Khalifa Al Mazroui, Chairman of Dar Al Ber Society and a number of senior officials attended the ceremony. 

Khalid Al Jallaf, Chairman of the Year of Zayed team said, “We organised several initiatives throughout the year including humanitarian, cultural, sports, research and innovation initiatives. We tried to inculcate the values and teachings of our Founding Father.”

As part of the Year of Zayed initiatives, more than 200 children with congenital heart abnormalities received free surgery through the Nabadat programme.”

Nabadat, which means heartbeat in Arabic, is a programme launched by the Mohammed bin Rashid Charity and Humanitarian Establishment (MBRCHE) in collaboration with DHA to alleviate the suffering of impoverished children with congenital heart disease (CHD). 

The initiative is under the patronage of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. It provides free medical assistance, life-saving surgery and post-surgical care to children whose parents cannot afford to pay for treatment of congenital heart diseases (CHDs).
CHD is a common type of birth defect where malformations occur to the structure of the heart. 

Nabadat provided free heart surgeries to more than 100 children in Mumbai in July this year. The surgeries took place in collaboration with the cardiology team at Fortis Hospital, Mulund and S. L. Raheja, a Fortis Associate Hospital in Mumbai.

In September this year, DHA cardiologists collaborated with Kafrelsheikh University Hospital in Egypt and provided more than 100 free heart surgeries. 

Additionally, the Nabadat cardiac team also conducted free paediatric cardiac check-ups to screen as many children as possible.
DHA also had launched a scientific research competition in July this year to recognize remarkable talent in the country in the medical field.

The competition aims to celebrate the Founding Father’s legacy and his pivotal role in the development of the health sector of the UAE and beyond. It also aims to encourage, foster and promote medical research.

Al Jallaf said, “We launched the competition in collaboration with the Culture and Science Association in Dubai.  DHA will publish the top three research papers and will distribute them to medical academies, libraries and institutions.”

The winners were announced at the ceremony. The first prize is AED 30,000; second is AED 25,000 and third is AED 20,000 respectively. 

DHA employees also contributed to build 100 wells to provide clean drinking water to families in countries of need. 

DHA collaborated with Dar Al Ber Society and the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department to build 100 wells in areas where communities suffer from a lack of access to clean, safe water. The five countries selected are India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Sudan and Senegal.

As part of the project, currently wells are being built in Sri Lanka and later the initiative will extend to other countries. 

Some three in 10 people worldwide, or 2.1 billion, lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10, or 4.5 billion, lack safely managed sanitation, according to the 2017 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.  Far too many people still lack access, particularly in rural areas. Community members can contribute towards this humanitarian cause as well. Each well costs AED 1000. Those interested can visit DHA’s Health Fund Department, which is located in Rashid Hospital Medical Library. Alternatively, community members can visit Dar Al Ber. 

DHA also collaborated with the UAE National Archives and displayed rare photos of late Sheikh Zayed at different locations in Dubai.

The ceremony took place with much enthusiasm and included paintings and calligraphy artworks with the sayings of the Founding Father of the UAE.

DHA will take part in the next year’s theme for UAE. The President, Sheikh Khalifa, declared 2019 the Year of Tolerance, highlighting the UAE as a global capital for acceptance through its legislative and policy goals.