EIGHTEEN YEARS THAT TRANSFORMED HEALTH AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES IN THE UAE
▶ Investment in hospitals and schools has given Emirati citizens opportunities their ancestors could scarcely have imagined
“While people are proud of their achievements, we are proud of being the children of Sheikh Zayed, and while people talk of their history, we speak of the history of giving that began with the formation of the UAE,” said Sheikh Khalifa.
He assumed power in November 2004 and, until his death, he helped the country to make progress.
In this short period, the Emirates was ranked top of international competitiveness indexes and became the second-largest economy in the Arab region, despite its small area and population.
Moreover, the UAE was the first Middle Eastern country to reach Mars and is one of the few countries worldwide to have made significant achievements in the space sector.
The UAE’s achievements during this empowerment phase are reflected in the lives of its people and among its business community.
After assuming power, Sheikh Khalifa launched the first strategic plan of the UAE government to achieve balanced and sustainable development and ensure the welfare of its residents.
In 2009, he was re-elected as the President and the UAE overcame the global financial crisis and sought solutions to regional political problems.
So how did the UAE manage to accomplish significant achievements during this time?
The Emirates’ state news agency, Wam, has compiled a report of these milestones, some of which is reproduced below:
The country’s leaders have prioritised the health sector and increased public spending, which at times has amounted to 7 per cent of the federal budget.
This is highlighted by the spending on the sector in each year from 2016 to 2020, which amounted to Dh3.83 billion, Dh4.2bn, Dh4.5bn, Dh4.4bn and Dh4.84bn, respectively.
This policy also proved successful from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
The UAE demonstrated a high level of efficiency and had the benefit of excellent medical infrastructure, including many well-equipped public and private hospitals.
The health sector’s efficiency was further supported by the country’s efforts to establish medical cities in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.
Most Emirati hospitals are internationally accredited, and the country has become a leading medical destination, underpinned by the rising number of hospitals, from 16 in 1975 to 169 in 2020.
They are managed by highly qualified medical staff, numbering 8,995 in 2020 in the government sector and 17,136 in the private sector, compared with 792 doctors in 1975. The number of nurses working in the government sector reached 56,045 in 2020, an increase of 252 per cent compared with 1975.
The country has made health insurance a priority and has provided it to its citizens free of charge. The elderly and people of determination are among those benefiting from comprehensive medical coverage.
In 2017, the UAE established the Middle East’s first cancer treatment centre to use proton technology.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention was keen to integrate artificial intelligence into medical services, and it is now used in more than 100 clinical facilities nationwide.
More than 85 per cent of Emirati hospitals have international accreditation, and the UAE has kept pace with innovation in the health sector. The UAE is one of the few countries that uses medical robotics technology when conducting major surgery.
Its spending on the health and education sectors underscores the leadership’s belief in the importance of these two areas to achieving sustainable development.
From 2016 to 2020, spending on education amounted to 20 per cent of the federal budget; for healthcare, the figure was 22 per cent.
The budget allocated to the national education sector in the past five years has ranged from Dh10.41bn in 2016 to Dh6.536bn in 2020, and averages at 15 per cent of the federal budget.
The UAE believes that its education system is the driver of development and ensures that all of its citizens have the right to a free education. Since 2012, it has been mandatory for all children aged 6 and above to attend school.
This was reinforced with the introduction of the Children’s Rights Law, commonly known as Wadeema’s Law.
The UAE’s education strategy established a system designed to equip children and young adults with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century.
It aims to provide higher education that can compete with that offered by the world’s best universities.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Initiative, launched in 2012, offered a framework for all schools in the UAE.
In 1973, the country had 110 schools with a total of 40,000 pupils. By 2007, 88.7 per cent of the population had attended school.
The UAE Vision 2021 highlighted the need to ensure that the standard of education was world-class and it became clear that the coming years would bring about a transformations in learning and education, led by technology.
The national education strategy aims to foster innovation and ensure equal access to education, maintain quality and efficiency, promote scientific research and encourage young people to enrol in higher education.
Subsequently, the National Strategy for Higher Education 2030 affirmed the importance of improving the scientific and technical skills of students, to support the growth of the economy.
Artificial intelligence has been integrated into medicine and is now used in more than 100 clinical facilities