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Municipality clinic retain occupational health services

DUBAI — The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has approved the Dubai Municipality Clinic in Deira to continue testing and certifying occupational health of employees from the food and hygiene sectors. However, the Clinic’s medical fitness services for the general public seeking resident visas will have to be transferred to DHA facilities from January 1, Khaleej Times has learnt.

A decision to discontinue these two mandatory public health services by the Clinic that serves more than 2,000 applicants a day was announced late in November.

The decision was taken after DHA informed DM that a 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two departments will cease to exist from January 2011. Through the MoU, DHA had authorised the DM clinic to continue with its services despite a Cabinet decision in 2008 disallowing municipal clinics to conduct medical fitness tests for visa procedures.

DM officials on Sunday confirmed that the DM Clinic, adjacent to the Union Metro Station, would retain the occupational health services, but would hand over the medical fitness services to DHA facilities from January 1. It is expected that the Clinic’s epidemiology section will also continue its services.

Ever since Khaleej Times broke the news that the Clinic would stop its services and block its online registration, it had seen an unprecedented rush by applicants who had queued up in front of the clinic before dawn.

Highlighting the public demand for retaining the clinic’s services, this paper also reported that those more concerned about the discontinuation of the clinic’s services are the regular clients from the food and hygiene sectors, employees who are required to get the occupational health cards from the municipality.

The KT report on December 20 quoted a group of PROs and representatives from various hotels and catering companies saying that the clinic’s regular customers like themselves would find it difficult to shift the location for the services specifically meant for their sectors. They also pointed out that the DM clinic, which has an immigration counter, was the only facility where services for medical reports for visas, occupational health cards and visa stamping were available under one roof.

They also voiced concern about how the scenario will change in the case of occupational health which has been under the control of DM, which issues cards for workers in establishments directly linked to public health, monitor them and issue fines for violating health and hygiene rules.

‘Thank you for your efforts,’ a senior DM official told Khaleej Times while disclosing that the occupational health services would now remain with the municipality.

However, the official said the formal announcement regarding this will be made at a joint press conference to be held by the DM and DHA officials this week. DHA also informed that all details regarding the issue will be officially announced during the press conference. Another DM official said the Clinic would now be able to serve double the number of applicants for occupational health tests and cards since it would not have the heavy load of conducting medical fitness tests.

—sajila@khaleejtimes.com