Health authority's budget to be decided soon

The budget of the UAE's Federal Health Authority (FHA), which was created last week, will be determined soon, said the Minister of Health, Dr Hanif Hassan.

President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a federal law last week for the inception of the FHA.

In an exclusive statement to Emirates Business, Hassan said: "The FHA will have an independent budget since it is a government authority. The law setting up the FHA came following the tabling of the UAE's federal budget for next year, which included the budget of the Ministry of Health (MoH). The FHA's budget is going to be determined soon. Until yesterday, funds were to be allocated."

The FHA will operate the ministry's hospitals and health centres in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. All properties and health establishments in Dubai and the Northern Emirates that belonged to the ministry will be transferred to the FHA, whose headquarters will be located in Sharjah. The FHA will have the right to open health offices and establishments in and outside the country. The health minister will chair its new board, according to a Cabinet decision. The FHA's board will include experienced and specialised members.

"The FHA's inception comes according to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to support decentralisation, which will lead to the provision of quality medical services to UAE nationals and expatriates in Dubai and the northern emirates," Hassan said.

At a press conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday, he told this paper "The MoH will have a legislative role going ahead, and it will draw up general health policies. The MoH will also be a member at the UAE Health Council that will include government health authorities, Health Authority-Abu Dhabi, Dubai Health Authority, FHA and representatives of the private medical sector. The MoH will not draw up any federal laws related to health issues except after consulting the members of the UAE Health Authority and getting the approval of members, especially the officials of the three health authorities.

"Hospitals and health centres, which belonged to the MoH will be transferred to the FHA smoothly and will not affect the medical, nursing and technical staff."

Hassan did not mention a date for the transfer process to be completed, but said: "We have set up a team to finish the process as soon as possible."

He said the decision to create the FHA forms a big qualitative move in healthcare in the country, enabling it to reach the best levels of healthcare in the world and build a developed system of hospitals and health centres.

He added that the new FHA will work according to five principles: excellence in work and the development of hospitals to reach the highest levels of quality; meeting residents' health needs; co-operation with local health authorities and international therapy centres; following up and continual development to attain the best results through efficiency in work and openness to similar authorities in the world.

On health insurance projects, he said: "The project will not be cancelled and we are currently discussing ways to implement it with the Ministry of Finance. There should be co-operation at the federal level to implement the project for people who were not included in the insurance schemes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi."

Speaking about the medical zones that belonged to the MoH, he said: "The medical zones will be part of the MoH as of now. The FHA's board will look into the situation of hospitals and health centres that belonged to it and also find ways of managing the medical zones in the northern emirates."

Hassan said the UAE Health Council is undertaking a study to unify the system of issuing licences to medical and nursing staff and the final form of the new system has not been defined yet.

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