SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT - UAE Interact

256 U N I T E D A R A B E M I R AT E S Y E A R B O O K 2 0 0 8Despite the impressive healthcare infrastructure already in placeAbu Dhabi Executive Council Policy Agenda 2007/2008 explainsthat as the healthcare needs of the population change, facilities andinstitutions must change as well: ‘Ageing facilities need updating,new, world-class institutions are require and the professionalworkforce, in particular needs to grow’.The Abu Dhabi government has, therefore, announced thefollowing major infrastructure investment projects to improvehealthcare provision in the emirate:Egyptian First Lady SuzanneMubarak (L) and Jordan'sPrincess Haya bint Al Hussein(R) wife of Dubai's RulerSheikh Mohammed bin RashidAl Maktoum, visit the RashedPediatric Therapy Centre inDubai, May 2007.Strategic partnershipswith the world's besthealthcare institutionsand professionals willeventually enable AbuDhabi to becomeone of the mostreputable healthcarehubs in the region.New Hospital at Al MafraqNew Hospital at Al AinOncology Centre of ExcellenceWestern Region InfrastructureGrant to Oasis HospitalHealth Information System (HIS)Renovation of Al Jazirah facilityNew wards Al Ain HospitalThe SKMC Cardiac ProgrammeDh 300 millionDh 300 millionDh 300 millionDh 230 millionDh 150 millionDh 140 millionDh 100 millionDh 25 millionDh 25 millionAttracting the world's best healthcare institutions and professionalsto the country through the forging of strategic partnerships is akey component of the government's new health policy, whichwill eventually enable the emirate to become one of the mostreputable healthcare hubs in the wider region.These relationships are already bearing fruit: for example, undera ten-year agreement between HAAD and the US-based JohnsHopkins Medicine, the latter assumed managerial and operationaloversight of the 469-bed Tawam Hospital, one of the UAE’s largestand most prestigious. As well as assessment of the hospital’s needsand implementation of management systems, the agreementincludes establishment of centres of excellence in a range ofspecialist clinical areas, access by healthcare professionals andpatients to the latest information from the Johns HopkinsHospital in Baltimore USA, and training of local medical staff.Tawam Hospital opened a new 20-bed, state-of-the art intensivecare unit, the largest in the country, in early 2007. It boasts the