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Flurry of Calls as Health Hotline Opens Officially

Callers to the centre, which handles all kinds of enquiries and complaints, were surprised when Director-General of the authority Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid personally offered solutions to their problems during its official launch on Monday.

The centre received 70 calls on Monday alone after the announcement of its opening was made on an Arabic radio channel. While 18 calls were answered by helpline representatives, the 19^th call was attended by Al Murooshid.

Some callers had to be put on hold while Al Murooshid answered questions about issuing of new licences to physicians, new health funding system and the Noor Dubai project.

“The DHA has an ambitious programme for change covering how Dubai manages, accesses and funds healthcare provision. This will affect everyone living and working in Dubai. It is important that everyone understands what they have to do and when.

“The DHA call centre provides a principal channel of communication with all our stakeholders. If anyone has any questions or wants clarifications on any part of the DHA programme, they are invited to call or email us with their questions,” he added.

The centre, the first of its kind launched by the authority, has already received over 500 calls of which 180 were received during January and more than 300 in February till Monday.

At least 18 trained representatives are available on all seven days a week to answer queries in Arabic, English and Hindi. According to a DHA spokesperson, “We try to answer any query on the spot, but if we are unable to do so, then we try and get back within a 
fixed time limit.”

Complaints on health issues can also be lodged with the centre. “These will be forwarded to the department concerned and will be followed up,” the spokesperson added.

In addition to the helpline, the DHA also hosts a number of email contact addresses for key aspects
of its programmes.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

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