DHA announces immunization policy for Dubai

The policy, which is the first and only one on immunization in the UAE, is part of the initiatives of the Dubai Health Strategy Sector and is aimed at improving and strengthening the functioning of immunization services for the entire health sector in the Emirate of Dubai.

The policy which has been developed after extensive study and in-depth research, has been implemented beginning this year and is applicable for all hospitals and health centers that wish to provide immunization services.

Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director-General of the DHA highlighted that the unified immunization policy will assure better access to immunization services in the Emirate of Dubai and that special emphasis has been given to child immunizations. Al Murooshid said: “We would like to ensure that Dubai’s residents enjoy safe and efficient immunization services and the introduction of this policy will help us achieve this by ensuring uniformity across all parameters of immunization services in the Emirate. Immunization is of key importance to protect the community from several life threatening diseases and this policy will help us benchmark ourselves internationally in terms of immunization services.”

While both the private and the government sector provide good standards of immunization services, introducing a unified policy is a step in the right direction to further enhance the health services provided in the Emirate, he added.

He said the introduction of this policy will facilitate coordination between different health sectors within the Emirate to follow a unified policy.

Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA mentioned that the policy will significantly benefit the health sector and will ensure that immunization services, especially for children, are streamlined in the Emirate. She said, “The policy stems from the DHA’s wider aim to improve public health services in the Emirate and it is in line with the objectives of the Dubai Health Strategy 2011 to 2013. Prior to introducing this policy, we conducted a detailed analysis of the existing situation in terms of immunization services in Dubai, we later analyzed the data and identified existing gaps and accordingly developed a unified policy. With the implementation of this policy, all hospitals and health clinics in the private and government health sector in the Emirate of Dubai will have to follow the same immunization practices.”

She said the Department of Public Health is working in cooperation with the DHA Health Regulation Department to ensure that every health facility or hospital that administers these vaccines follows a certain set of rules and regulations.

She said, “ To monitor the process of administering vaccines across the private and public health sector in Dubai, the Public Health and Safety Department and the DHA Health regulation department have jointly developed the criteria for provision of vaccination services. Accordingly private clinics will be licensed as Vaccine Qualified Clinics (VQCs) and their functions will be monitored by the DHA Health Regulation according to the Immunization Guideline.”

She said that this should not be a difficult task as a majority of the healthcare facilities in Dubai are already fulfilling their licensing criteria to provide this service and that by implementing the VQCs system, adults and children who are vaccinated can be sure that they will receive potent and safe vaccines.

Al Jassmi said, “All clinics who wish to function as a VQC will have to adhere to guidelines for various processes such as their set-up, staffing structure, storage criteria for vaccines and medicines, emergency supplies. In addition, VQC’s will have to ensure that suppliers of vaccines are licensed and follow the required mandated transportation and cold chain storage practices. Clinics will also have to maintain accurate recording of immunization schedules, they will have to maintain complete record of adverse reactions and reporting system. All clinics and hospitals will have to maintain records of vaccination cards including all EPI recommended vaccines. The clinic will also have to ensure that the clinic is run by well trained as per DHA requirements and the DHA health public health department will also support clinics by organising training courses from time-to-time.”

She said to ensure that clinics are following these requirements; the DHA Health Regulation Department will carry out regular inspections.

Dr Ramadan Ibrahim, Director of Health Regulation at the DHA said, “As per the unified policy, firstly, for any clinic or hospital to provide vaccination services in the Emirate, they will first have to quality to be a VQC, once that is established, we will also conduct regular inspections from time-to-time to ensure that the VQC’s are following all mandatory rules and regulations. This policy will help further strengthen the quality of healthcare services provided in the Emirate.”

Dr. Aizeldin Ibrahim, Acting director of Public Health and Safety, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA added that the implementation of the unified policy for immunizations was implemented after in-depth study and research in the field. He said, “From 2009, the department conducted a study to assess the immunization services in Dubai in terms of quality, safety, accessibility and identified opportunities for improvement and we realized that there is need to reform the existing immunization services and to implement a uniform immunization policy to regulate the provision of vaccination services.”

Dr Ibrahim said that the study highlighted that in Dubai, 28% of the clinics studied, were not following the national immunization schedule, 41% have no reminder system and 48% of the clinics lacked a system to trace defaulters. Sixty four per cent of private healthcare facilities were not reporting adverse events. On the other hand; periodic reporting to the concerned authorities (Ministry of Health and DHA) was found to be inadequate in 48% of the private facilities.

Eighty three per cent demonstrated high quality immunization registry system and 88 % of the private clinics followed specific policy to maintain cold chain and there was high compliance with regard to regular monitoring of vaccine-storage temperature.

Dr Ibrahim said that the findings of the study highlighted the need to implement a unified policy which will ensure standardized procedures and coordinated efforts are followed by both private and public healthcare facilities in Dubai. The policy aims to improve immunization services and to provide technical guidance to healthcare providers to ensure they follow best practices in terms of administering and storing vaccines.

He highlighted that the policy will enforce the national immunization program approved by the Ministry of Health and healthcare facilities providing childhood immunization services will have to follow this schedule.

Dr Hisham Al Khatib, Senior Public Health Specialist, Public Health and Safety Department, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA explained that, applying this policy will ensure the implementation of a unified and improved recording and reporting system across all healthcare facilities in the Emirate and it will ensure healthcare facilities devise an appropriate way of tracing children who do not show up for their immunizations on the appointed days (tracing defaulters).

Dr Lubna Al Shaali, Public Health Specialist, Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA mentioned that the department has formulated a comprehensive immunization guideline, which is the first of its kind in the country, with the support of healthcare stakeholders.