Dubai's Rashid Hospital expanded

With the addition of two more floors, a number of medical specialties and 159 new beds, Rashid Hospital has become the biggest and busiest hospital in the country.
The hospital now has a total of 786 beds, six operation theatres for major surgeries and three others for minor. At least 69 new doctors and 100 nurses have been hired to manage the newly opened extension wing at the trauma centre that sees about 500-600 cases daily.
Two floors of the new trauma centre were inaugurated by Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister of Finance and President of Dubai Health Authority (DHA), on Monday.
A total of 66 beds have been added to the second floor, which will be designated for intensive care, including internal medicine, neurosurgery and general surgery. This is an increase of 50 per cent in intensive care beds. The third floor will have 93 beds used for general surgery and specialised surgeries such as those for hands and spines.
Humaid Al Qattami, Chairman of the Board and Director-General of the DHA, said that the new expansion will be overseen by experienced doctors, nurses and technicians, who were chosen to ensure the satisfaction of patients.
Dr Ebrahim Saif Al Kalban, CEO of the hospital sector at the DHA, said that 39 patients were already admitted to the new unit.
"The centre sees a lot of poly trauma and referral cases following road accidents, cardiovascular disease as well as stroke patients, therefore, this expansion was much needed," he said, adding that since Dubai was a growing city, many such projects will be launched in the future in new Dubai.
Dr Alya Mazrouei, CEO of Rashid Hospital, said new medical specialisations have also been added including hand, liver and spine surgery, bone fractures and bariatric surgery. "These specialisations are part of the third floor expansions related to general surgery," she said.
She added that high-quality technology has been added to smart beds, including CPUs that track the status of the patient in bed to avoid cases of falling out of the bed - which is one of the indicators of excellence and quality in the hospital.
This high quality technology also ensures maintaining the status of the head (30 degrees) for brain stroke patients. It also ensure a straight position for the spine patients and a safe and healthy position for various patients, each according to his/her condition.
Dr Haider Al Yousuf, director of Public Health Funding, said that only 60 per cent of the patients reporting to emergency have life-threatening conditions. "We are trying to optimise our emergency services for which we have already opened other urgent care units that are open 24 hours in Nad Al Hammar and Al Barsha."
The official said that by end of the year, the authority plans to have many other urgent care units in government and private hospitals to lessen the burden on trauma care at Rashid Hospital.
Direct billing for insured patients
Rashid Hospital's Trauma and Emergency Centre has started accepting all insurance cards from Monday and has introduced direct billing services for patients.
"This means that insured members will no longer need to first pay and then wait for reimbursement if they avail of services at DHA health facilities," said Dr Haider Al Yousuf, director of Public Health Funding.
"The introduction of this facility will provide patients a wider network of providers to choose from and it will provide easier payment options."
The introduction of direct billing services at the trauma centre is the first phase and by the end of 2016, all DHA facilities - including its hospitals and primary healthcare centres - will provide direct billing for all health insurance companies.
By May, Latifa Hospital will introduce direct billing, by June all DHA-run primary health care centres, by September the entire Rashid Hospital and by October Dubai Hospital will start direct billing.
This option will be particularly useful for patients who use services that are highly specialised and primarily available at public hospitals in Dubai.
"Patients only have to pay the co-insurance (deductible patient share) as per their policy and the insurance company will pay the remaining amount directly to the hospital. Similarly, there are certain services that DHA hospitals specialise in and now patients will find it easier to opt for DHA hospitals," said Dr Haider.
asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

Dr Haider Al Yousuf