Public urged to monitor, reporthealth violations

dubai — Officials in the UAE want the public to monitor violations happening in the health sector under the medical malpractice laws of the country and bring them to the notice of the right authorities.

Dr Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public health policy and licensing sector at the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP), said that the ministry is seeking to raise standards and it is “not possible to monitor all health facilities for malpractices”.

“We want to reach everywhere through the patients,” he said on the sidelines of the conference to introduce the national regulatory health indicators on Thursday.

He said health facilities are encouraged to spread the culture of patient rights and obligations while patient should act as safety ambassadors. He added that it is the role of the medical facility to inform patients of his/her effective role in avoiding medical errors.

“We have identified two indicators and these include malpractice and having accredited hospitals,” he said.

Law for protection

A procedure to report malpractice was put in place when the new Federal Law on medical liability was passed in 2016 bringing several changes to the previous law of 2008. The new law requires all medical malpractice claims to be referred to a new medical liability committee before they are reviewed by the judicial authorities in the UAE.

The law also affords protection and relief to doctors in criminal proceedings by prohibiting their arrest, imprisonment, and investigation before the concerned authorities until the Medical Liability Committee issues a final report.

Raising bars

With the UAE’s health expenditure standing at Dh62 billion in 2016 and projected to increase to Dh106 billion by 2026, Dr Amiri said the government was ensuring that residents get world class medical services by ensuring that malpractice laws are in place and all medical facilities are accredited by 2021.

A health system with the highest medical standards is among the six national priorities set under the National Agenda for 2021.

Achieving 100 per cent accreditation of all medical facilities in the country is also among the targets to be met until 2021. Currently, 70 per cent of the 4,000 medical facilities in the country have already been accredited.

“This accreditation is important because we want international investors in the country since their presence will raise the standards in the country,” he said.