Can you walk into any Dubai hospital if you have Covid symptoms?

YES, DUBAI AUTHORITIES SAY, EVEN WITH SOME FACILITIES DECLARED COVID-FREE

Even as several hospitals in Dubai have been declared Covid-19 free by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), residents can still walk into any hospital if they have coronavirus symptoms, as protocols are in place to segregate and deal with positive cases, Gulf News can reveal.

A spokesperson for the Covid Command and Control Centre told Gulf News, “Patients need not worry about visiting any hospital or clinic in Dubai because all have received a circular with detailed guidelines on how to handle patients with Covid-19 symptoms in a way to ensure containing and controlling any transmission of the infection. All hospitals are following guidelines to segregate different patients so they can handle potential Covid-19 patients.”

The spokesperson said, “If a patient is tested positive, he/she will be notified via text message or by email on the result. Then, depending on his medical condition and situation, the “patient agent” will inform him/ her to go into home isolation, or institutional isolation or to the hospital if needed.”

Emergency department

All Dubai hospitals have been instructed to receive all patients in their emergency departments. After tests and confirmation if required, a patient is sent to the nearest Covid-19 hospital for treatment. As numbers for incidence of disease have fallen and rate of recovery has doubled, even the field hospitals have been closed down.

But as Dr Moaza Al Zaabi, CEO of the Adam Vitale Hospital in Garhoud Dubai, which was declared Covid-free on July 7, said: “Our last Covid patient was discharged this week and after inspection and sanitisation, our establishment was declared Covid-free by DHA. But our 24/emergency will still take in suspected Covid-19 patients who walk in for help. Our Emergency medicine doctors are well prepared with adequate Personal Protection Equipment to handle patients. If found positive and requiring hospitalisation, the patients will be directed to the closest Covid treating hospital.”

All Dubai hospitals have been instructed to receive all patients in their emergency departments.