Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has launched the Dubai Health Strategy 2021, to streamline the health sector in Dubai, at a meeting at the Executive Office in the presence of senior officials.

Aimed at revamping the health sector, the new strategy features four main approaches, six objectives, 15 programmes and 93 initiatives, all of which are set to achieve a leap over the next five years.

"The emirate of Dubai is facing a five-year challenge of improving healthcare services and rising to our ambitions and aspirations for establishing Dubai as a main medical destination in the UAE and the wider region where one billion people live around us," Sheikh Mohammed said after he approved the health strategy.

The four approaches include health and lifestyle, excellence in providing service, smart healthcare, and governance.

The strategy is aimed at achieving six goals - ensuring a healthy and safe environment for Dubai's people, ensuring the provision of a high quality comprehensive and integrated health service system, achieving innovation, improving efficiency in providing health care, and creating an integrated database to be used for the smart government policy in taking decision.

Other goals include creating an effective ecological system for the healthcare sector in Dubai in collaboration with the private and public sectors, in addition to restructuring DHA's administration.

The launch of the five-year health strategy was attended by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Emirates Group, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Humaid Mohammed Al Qattami, Chairman and Director-General of the DHA, and other officials.

The strategy was drafted by 11,000 employees of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), as well as DHA leaders, owners and directors of private health facilities, pharmaceutical and IT companies, companies manufacturing medical formulas and insurance agencies.

Sheikh Mohammed said the people's expectations are on the rise because they are used to excellence in various sectors in the UAE.

"It is everyone's responsibility to develop this vital sector and we will continuously follow up on the developments. Our confidence in the DHA leaders is determined by the volume of progress and development in medical services rendered to the public," he said.

He said, "Our most important investment will be in the DHA medial cadres and staff because they are the real capital due to their knowledge, skills and continued training. We will also build strategic partnerships with the private sector to ensure the consolidation of Dubai as a capital for medical tourism during the coming period."

The strategy's programmes and goals take into consideration Dubai's global position as a prosperous and fast-growing city.

The strategy also takes into consideration the emirate's aspirations to be a global model in the field of health as a city that has a happy and healthy society. This will be achieved through medical and research institutions that use the most advanced technologies and smart applications operated by administrative, medical, technical and nursing cadres.

The authority derived the eight pillars of its strategy from the directives of Sheikh Mohammed, in which he reaffirmed the importance of achieving the highest international standards and providing the highest quality medical care to patients with chronic diseases. The strategy aims to instil a culture of early detection and raising awareness about the importance of regular check-ups, as well as reducing the dangerous impacts of malignant diseases.

Providing continuous training to national medical staff, especially in rare medical disciplines, and finding proper treatments and therapies for incurable diseases are also among the basic pillars of the strategy. The strategy focusses on research and studies that contribute to developing the efficiency of DHA hospitals and their medical and technical staff, as well as keeping abreast of the latest in medical and health sciences.

Dubai's economic competitiveness to achieve the optimal investment of financial and human resources were taken into consideration to attract capital into the health sector.

The strategy also aims to achieve customer satisfaction and protect the rights of patients. It encourages the medical staff to work as a team, excel and innovate, in addition to creating a creative work environment that stimulates innovation. The strategy was developed to keep pace with a knowledge-based economy, sustainability standards, tools of governance and automation of data systems and rules, as well as information related to the latest medical technologies and post-2015 Development Agenda, determined by the United Nations, represented by the World Health Organisation.

Dubai's Health Strategy 2021 features four main approaches, six objectives, 15 programmes and 93 initiatives.

:: 11,000 employees of DHA participated in drafting the strategy:: The aim is to provide the highest quality of medical care to patients with chronic diseases:: Promote a culture of early detection and raise awareness about the importance of regular check-ups:: The provision of a high quality comprehensive and integrated health service system:: Research and studies to develop the efficiency of DHA hospitals and their medical and technical staff.