The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, recently revealed that its hospitals network in Ras Al Khaimah (Abdullah Bin Omran Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynecology & Shaam Hospital) has received the Joint Commission International accreditation (JCI).
The first-of-its-kind achievement in the Middle East came in the wake of a five-day visit by international arbitrators to the accredited hospitals to learn closely about the health programs and services provided and to evaluate the performance in accordance with JCI’s standards.
This groundbreaking achievement is attributed to the full coordination between the accredited hospitals to achieve patient safety standards, improve quality levels and ensure the harmony of medical policies and protocols, as well as the human resources systems, facility management, and medical devices.
Also, the coordination included the constant review of the diagnostic and therapeutic programs to provide patients with outstanding treatment experience.
Al Owais: Enhancing the UAE Competitiveness in the Healthcare Field
On this occasion, HE Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, the Minister of Health, commended the outstanding performance of the hospitals’ leadership, and medical and administrative staff, congratulating them on this achievement.
Al Owais underlined that MoHAP is keen on achieving the international accreditation for its facilities through a number of programs and plans in accordance with the best internationally approved standards and protocols.
This comes as part of the aspirations of the wise leadership that all country hospitals are to get accredited before the year 2021, by creating national competencies capable of leading the achievement process and placing the country on top of the healthcare field globally as per international standards.
“This achievement also reinforces the efforts exerted to establish a health system in accordance with the highest international standards and to achieve sustainability in health services as per the objectives of the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda,”
Concluding his remarks, Al Owais pointed out that this achievement is the fruit of the wise leadership’s keenness on leveraging the best potential and resources to achieve the Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 and the UAE Centennial 2071, by developing the competitiveness of the health sector to compete with the world’s most innovative countries, and consolidating the UAE’s esteemed and advanced position on the global competitiveness index, as well as in many international reports and indicators, pursuant to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and the vigorous follow-up of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Al Olama: High-Quality Sustainable Health Services
Commending the achievement, HE Dr. Mohamed Salim Al Olama, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Prevention, stressed that MoHAP is actively pursuing the enhancement of the efficiency of the services in its facilities and achieving the sustainability in health services.
This can be done through the development of medical policies and protocols and the adoption of the best practices to foster patient safety at MoHAP’s hospitals.
“The percentage of internationally accredited hospitals is one of the national indicators. According to the outcomes, there’s rapid and positive development in this indicator. This reflects MoHAP’s strenuous efforts in dealing with this indicator, in view of its positive impact on the quality of health services,” added Al Olama.
Highlighting MoHAP’s achievements in the international accreditation, Al Olama said that 11 hospitals and 34 primary health care centers have received the JCI accreditation, in addition to the accreditation for the largest network of primary care centers in the region with 16 centers in Ras Al Khaimah.
Moreover, 6 dental centers have received the Canadian diamond accreditation, besides the obtainment of the Sharjah Blood Transfusion Centre for the accreditation of the American Association of Blood banks.
Al Serkal: A Well-Deserved Achievement
In turn, HE Dr. Youssif Al Serkal, Assistant Undersecretary for the Ministry’s Hospitals Sector, said: “This achievement enhances patients’ confidence in the efficiency of the services provided and underlines MoHAP’s keenness to provide the best therapeutic and diagnostic services to ensure their conformity with the JCI’s standards in terms of the medical, technical and administrative aspects, and patients’ effective participation in the treatment process. It also consolidates and underpins the positive competition between health institutions to provide world-class health services.”
While congratulating the management and staff of both Abdullah Bin Omran Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynecology and Shaam Hospital on this achievement, Al Serkal highlighted MoHAP’s priorities in terms of the sustainability of quality enhancement and patient safety, while focusing on the preventive aspect and adopting medical policies and protocols in conformity with the international accreditation standards.
“The future direction of our hospitals is to boost innovation and utilize the AI, telemedicine, and block-chain technologies to provide future health services in line with the vision of the UAE Centennial 2071, which looks forward to reinforcing the UAE’s position as one of the world’s best countries in terms of the sustainable healthcare services,” he noted.
The international arbitrators hailed the outstanding level of these hospitals, adding that this accreditation would help ease patients’ movement between hospitals in a seamless and positive way, and also helps in strengthening the cooperation between different departments, in addition to fostering the transfer of positive experiences to achieve the best health practices.