The health sector enhances its gains in the Emirates during 2024

The health sector enhances its gains in the Emirates during 2024

At the end of each year, institutions and countries review the most important achievements they have made in various sectors. Many developments have occurred this year that have had a clear impact on improving public health in the United Arab Emirates, whether in the short or long term.

Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi was able to perform the first successful liver transplant for children, for a 4-year-old girl, speaking of the Emirates.

While it has launched many ambitious medical projects, strengthened its partnerships with several international countries, and performed successful complex operations for patients in its hospitals, it has also succeeded in making purposeful health decisions, the latest of which was the announcement by the Emirates Genome Council to include genetic testing as an essential part of the premarital examination program for all citizens intending to marry across the country, starting in January 2025.

The genetic test within premarital examinations covers 570 genes for more than 840 genetic disorders, and is a preventive measure that protects members of society from genetic diseases.

But back to the beginning of 2024, there were many important medical achievements made by the UAE, let us recall the most prominent of them in the following lines:

Ambitious medical projects

The health sector in the UAE witnessed the announcement of a group of ambitious medical projects this year, including the beginning of January, where the establishment of a specialized and integrated medical city for women and children's medicine was approved, which will include:

• Sheikh Khalifa Medical City.

• The new Corniche Hospital specializing in women's health and newborns.

• A rehabilitation hospital.

• A specialized center for mental health for women and children.

The National Nursing Academy.

Last June, the Emirates Medical Readiness and Response Program "Jaheziya" launched the National Nursing Academy, in a joint initiative with the National Training "Tadreeb", with the aim of developing the skills of national cadres and building the capabilities and readiness of the first line of defense of nurses working in government and private hospitals in the various emirates of the country.

Asan Emirates Digestive Diseases Hospital

During July, the foundation stone was laid for Asan Emirates Digestive Diseases Hospital located in Dubai Healthcare City, a project of the Emirati Scope Investment Company, making it the first global branch of Asan Hospital, one of the largest hospitals and healthcare centers in the Republic of Korea, and scheduled to be completed in 2026.

Global Emirati PartnershipsNational Health and Nutrition Survey Campaign 2024-2025

In terms of strengthening global partnerships, the Ministry of Health and Community Protection launched the National Health and Nutrition Survey Campaign 2024-2025 last May, in cooperation with the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center, health authorities, and local statistics centers, to include the targeted age groups, namely: the elderly, adults over 18 years old, females from 15 to 49 years old, pregnant women, and children from one day to 17 years old.

Strategic Cooperation Agreement with AstraZeneca

During November, the Ministry of Health and Prevention signed a strategic cooperation agreement with AstraZeneca, a global pharmaceutical company, to enhance early detection programs for lung cancer in the country through the use of the latest global technologies and practices.

In the same month, the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi announced the approval of the “Healthy Life Institute” as the first center specialized in long-term health medicine in the world, after meeting the licensing criteria and requirements set by the regulatory framework developed by the department, in an initiative that is the first of its kind globally.

Successful Complex Operations

Over the past year, the successes of Emirati hospitals continued by performing the most complex and rare surgical operations for patients, as a team of surgeons within the medical team at “Dubai Hospital” affiliated with “Dubai Health” succeeded in May in performing the largest tumor in the adrenal gland in the world for a patient in her sixties.

In June, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), a subsidiary of Pure Health Group, successfully used radioactive iodine to treat thyroid cancer in a 54-year-old patient suffering from advanced kidney disease.

In July, Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi performed the first successful pediatric liver transplant in the UAE for a 4-year-old girl, the first pediatric liver transplant from a living donor in the country. The operation took 12 hours.

In August, the Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Center announced the success of the first ovarian freezing procedure in the UAE for a 7-year-old girl diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in collaboration with ART Fertility Clinics.