As one of the seven federal emirates of the United Arab Emirates, or the UAE, Dubai is extensively known and observed for its healthcare as it has some of the greatest amenities in the world. Community healthcare facilities in Dubai usually meet very extraordinary standards and the emirate’s public healthcare system is fairly progressive.
The health system in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is completely monitored and governed by The Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Formed in the year 2007 under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, it launched its first programme in March 2008. DHA has the complete right to strategize different health plans for the people of Dubai and is also empowered to change certain policies as per requirement. DHA completely assesses these policies and ensures that the guidelines during application of these policies are appropriately met. The chief goal in Dubai is to provide a reachable, operative and combined healthcare organization, safeguard public well-being and progress the value of life within the Emirate. Keeping the calculated plan in mind, the DHA’s mission is to guarantee admittance to health services, preserve and advance the superiority of these services, develop the health status of nationals, residents and guests and oversee an active, effectual and pioneering health sector. Government clinics and hospitals in Dubai are governed by the DHA. Amongst the many insurance plans for the Dubai nationals is the plan called SAADA.
SAADA refers happiness in Arabic and the structure of the scheme is one of the cleverest insurance schemes in the world. It is valid for all nationals in Dubai who do not advantage from any other Government funded health insurance cover. Up till now, more than 108,000 Emiratis have been benefited through the SAADA insurance. There are many healthcare providers both in the private sector and DHA healthcare centres who provide treatments through this programme. Each Emirati citizen can avail this SAADA programme and can access the same through the ID cards.
Not only this, the citizens can actually avail many health related benefits through the SAADA application. They can even rate or comment on the service of their provider. If the score is one, or two they need to deliver a purpose for that rating. Rating one and two will be listed in the system as criticisms. The concerned authorities will then touch out to the provider and investigate about why the class of service provided was not up-to-the-mark. The procedure is a mechanism adopted by the authorities to help guarantee patients have admittance to high-quality care. The vision behind SAADA is to make Dubai the greatest healthcare structure in the world.
Besides the rate your experience feature the other benefits of the SAADA app offers affiliates with facts of their policy and benefits accessible, claim status, how much insurance limit is obtainable, thorough network of providers, list of providers close to any location the user enters etc. All of these features are to ensure that no citizen remains underprivileged from obtaining any health insurance programmes and healthcare facilities.
There are also many TPA’s (Third Party Administrators) established under the laws which embarks upon the operation and management of Health Insurance schemes. Third Party Administrator (TPA) holds a permit and right to offer insurance programmes by the Dubai Health Authority as obligatory by the law which indicates that the corporation is accepted to manage health insurance plans and programmes in the Emirate of Dubai on behalf of acceptable health insurance firms.
A Third Party Administrator is basically a facility provider for insurance corporations, providing facilities connected to health insurance. It is a business that acts on behalf of a protection company to provide the facilities of the coverage company to the covered.
Some of the Third Party Administrators include Aafiya which is an integrated service provider in the healthcare industry. Its insurance partners include Takaful Emarat, National Life & General Insurance, Noor Takaful, Oman Insurance Company, Metlife, United Insurance Company etc.
Another such example of a Third Party Administrator is NEXtCARE. It is an independent Third Party Administrator that offers turnkey offers for various healthcare insurance needs. Some insurance companies linked to it are Adonis Insurance & Co Sal (ASIR), Amana Insurance Company, Alliance SNA SAL etc.
These TPA’s offer a wide chain of networks that offer various health plans, depending upon the salaries of different individuals. The insurance companies decide with which TPA they wish to register.
The government employees and their dependents too can avail different health insurance policies. There is a special health insurance plan designed for the government employees in Dubai and they and their dependents mandatorily come under this scheme. The scheme is called as Enaya. The scheme is a planned programme between the Dubai Health Authority & Neuron LLC. The amount of coverage that the government employee or its dependent would receive depends upon the designation of the government employee. The programme provides various medical coverages that include eye treatments, dental surgeries and treatments, any chronic diseases. The employees can avail these benefits at the government clinics in Dubai and even private clinics in Dubai.
However, previously only about 30% of the government employees were covered under the plan depending upon the salaries. Most of the employees were unable to avail any of these benefits. They had to pay an amount of 150 Dirhams at the hospitals in Dubai for any general consultation.
To change this, Dubai Health Authority came up with a rule that every individual having a visa must be eligible to avail these health insurance benefits. The plan EBP (Essential Benefit Plan) was for every employee to avail. It is basically a plan for the common people of Dubai whose earnings are as less as 4000 dirham.
Many private organisations register themselves for this insurance plans with various companies. Health insurance for private employees in Dubai is enforced under Dubai Health Insurance Law No. 13 of 2013.
The Law makes it obligatory for companies and promoters to offer health insurance in three phases:
- Corporations with more than 1,000 employees from 31 October 2014
- Corporations with 100-999 employees form 31 July 2015
- Corporations with less than 100 employees from 30 June 2016
These plans cover dependents of guarantors including partners; kids and home workers must be covered by simple health coverage, cost of which shall be borne by the guarantor if the employer has not provided family covered insurance.
Currently there are about 50 insurance companies that are legally eligible to offer insurance. Out of these about 12 companies are eligible to offer the Essential Benefit Plan for individuals who earn less than 4000 Dirhams. Each sponsor must offer a health insurance of AED 150,000 each year.
At the moment, roughly 88 per cent of the populace with Dubai visas have obligatory health insurance. If any worker has not roofed under EBP yet, the company has to pay a fine of AED 500 each month starting from the deadline month.
Not only this, to ensure complete assurance that every individual gets to avail insurance, The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has associated itself with General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) so that no fresh visa will be supplied or an current one renewed where the individual concerned does not have health assurance coverage in place at the time of visa request or regeneration.
This mandatory health insurance policy makes it the best planned and structured policy worldwide. It clearly reflects that the government and administration pays significant importance towards taking care of each of its citizen. As a result of this, no citizen shall suffer through any financial crisis during an emergency, neither does he or she has to be deprived of any kind of healthcare. The mandatory policy is to create a sense of equality among the citizens and at the same it promotes the importance of healthcare in the society.
To know more about the government plans or clinics in Dubai associated with DHA simply download our app Fidoc. Our app is an one stop solution that will help you find out clinics in Dubai or hospitals across Dubai for any quick medical assistance.
