Dubai - Dubai doctors-per-people stats stand at 33.5 as compared to Germany's at 38.9, according to the Dubai Health Authority's (DHA) annual statistical book
Published: Sat 1 Jul 2017, 9:24 PM
Last updated: Sat 1 Jul 2017, 11:35 PM
According to a latest report, Dubai has the world's second highest number of physicians per 10,000 population, just following Germany that has the highest number.
According to the Dubai Health Authority's (DHA) annual statistical book for 2016, though the overall number for the UAE stands at 25.3 physicians per 10,000 people, Dubai's alone stands at 33.5 as compared to Germany's at 38.9.
In the UK, the number of physicians stood at 28.1, the USA at 25 and Saudi Arabia at 25.9.
There is a significant growth in the number of physicians and manpower, according to the statistical handbook.
The registered physicians in Dubai were 8,614 for the year of 2016, with an increase of 80.7 per cent than that of 2010.
Also, a slight increase of the rate of physicians per 1,000 population has been done in 2016. It accounted for 3.4 compared to the 3.3 rate of 2015.
Of these, the share of DHA was 0.6 physicians per 1,000 population, while the share of private was 2.7 physicians per 1,000 population.
The rate of dentists was 0.8 per 1,000 population, while it was 7.2 for nurses.
The physicians distributed as 34.3 per cent in Rashid Hospital, 26.4 per cent in Dubai Hospital, and 11.8 per cent for Latifa Hospital 7.4 per cent in Hatta Hospital. Primary Health Care and specialised health centres physicians constituted 18.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent of the total physicians in the DHA.
However, the number of nurses was 72 per 10,000 population as compared to Germany with the world's highest at 113.8 followed by the Saudi Arabia at 98.2 and UK at 94.7.
In mid of last year, the DHA said that select Emirati students in Dubai have been promised a monthly allowance and a job if they continue their medical education and join the ranks after completing their studies.
The students will be given Dh6,500 per month to do a major in medicine and Dh5,000 per month if they want to continue studies in the field of paramedics and nursing. Insurance and book expenses will also be covered along with all educational and registration fees.
According to the DHA's Annual Health Statistical Report for 2015, a total of 1,612 Emiratis are currently working in the medical sector in Dubai. Category-wise statistics say that 276 physicians, 106 dentists, 50 nurses, 29 pharmacists are working in Dubai hospitals and primary health centres.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
Birth rate on the decline
Fertility rates continue to dip in the emirate year after year albeit the dip was minor as compared to 2015.
According to the statistical handbook, the declining birth rates are attributed to urbanisation, changing attitudes about family size and increased education and work opportunities for women.
Last year, 31,887 live births happened in Dubai making a crude birth rate (CBR) of 12.4 per 1,000 population. A minor decline has been noticed in the CBR from 2015 to 2016 (0.42 per cent). In 2010, the crude birth rate was 13.7 dropping steadily to 12.90 in 2014 and to 12.41 in 2016.
Total fertility rate (TFR) is the main driver for growth for any country. In 2016, the TFR was 2.2 children per woman in the age group 15-49 years. It was 5.2 per woman for nationals (that correlates with the Emirate goals) compared to 1.7 for non-national women.
In 2013, the DHA announced the Al Amal initiative that offers free fertility treatment to Emiratis in a bid to boost fertility rates.
Last year, of the 4,200 babies born at the Dubai Gyneacology and Fertility Centre, 100 babies were born to Emirati couples who opted for the Amal initiative.
The DGFC sponsors cost of all cycles of fertility treatment needed for Emiratis who were suffering from infertility problems and were selected for this initiative.
Dr Hana Tahwara, director of the Dubai Gynecology and Fertility Centre, said: "We offer individualised care and transfer of embryos is strictly as per the clinical history of the patient to reduce the occurrence of multiple pregnancies. Keeping all these factors in mind and the high standards of care and ethical practice we follow, we are proud that we achieved a good success rate."
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com
Leading causes of death
Diseases in the cardiovascular and circulatory systems were the leading causes of all deaths in 2016 (caused 33.4 per cent of all deaths in the hospital of Dubai).
Among the top leading causes of deaths, cancer came as the second highest cause of death accounting for 17.9 per cent, while diseases of the respiratory system ranked as the third leading cause (11.1 per cent) of death in 2016.
Events at the injuries and perinatal period ranked as the fourth and fifth highest causes of deaths with 6.7 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.
Demand for health services grow
Demand for health services grew at a higher rate in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 following little growth during 2010.
This was driven by a significant increase in outpatient encounter. A total of 10.07million outpatients visits were recorded during the year of 2016, with a 1 per cent increase than that of 2015.
The rate of daily visits in Dubai was 15.9 visits/1,000 population. The Private Health Sector (PHS) represented about three-quarters of these visits (75.4 per cent), while the share of the DHA was near to one quarter (21.7 per cent).
This put the health services provision closer to the Dubai health strategic goals of achieving the 30 per cent Vs 70 per cent share for the government and the private sectors, respectively.
Nationals constituted 63.1 per cent of all outpatients encounters of which female nationals accounted to 59.5 per cent of the total National attendees.
Studying the distribution of DHA attendance showed that the share of government hospitals was 44.5 per cent, meanwhile the remaining was shared by the PHS 47.8 per cent and specialised health centres with 7.7 per cent of the total attendance.
The number of overseas patients was 1,994 during the year of 2016. German sought for overseas treatments by the highest proportion of patients (28.6 per cent), followed by UK (15.3 per cent), then India (8.3 per cent).
In the first place, neurology & neurosurgeries sought by (17.2 per cent), oncology treatments were sought by (21.8 per cent) of the total overseas patients.
After that, orthopedic and cardio-surgeries were responsible for 16.5 per cent, 7.6 per cent of cases treated overseas, respectively.
The total expenditures of overseas treatments was Dh623 million. The average cost was Dh3.12million per patient; it was Dh4.92million in UK, Dh5.08million in Germany and Dh7.31million in USA.
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