Dubai Healthcare City Authority, DHCA, the governing body of Dubai Healthcare City, DHCC, today announced the launch of its first Excellence Awards within the free zone to recognise and reward innovative initiatives and top safety standards that make a positive difference to patients’ lives.

The aim of the award, which was launched on the side-lines of the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress, is to honour clinical facilities in DHCC, whose work demonstrates a combination of exceptional quality standards, talent and vision. 

Khalid Ahmed Al Sheikh Al Shamsi, CEO of DHCA, said, "The Excellence Awards is an initiative that reinforces our quest for excellence through unique offerings that distinguish the quality of healthcare services provided within the free zone. It is an opportunity to bring the remarkable work by our partners to the forefront of the health sector. It will also help us set the bar for quality care within the UAE health sector even higher by continuously working towards excellence."

The awards are given in two categories: ‘Healthcare Innovation Award’, which aims to showcase innovative practices and projects in patient care, and the ‘Outpatient Clinics Quality Award’ which aims to recognise outpatient clinics that have achieved continuous high compliance with the outpatient quality standards of Dubai Healthcare City Authority-Regulatory, DHCR. Each award category has a winner and two runners-up.

The ‘Healthcare Innovation Award’ will recognise initiatives designed to improve safety in patient care, education and technology, and the ‘Outpatient Clinics Quality Award’ will recognise facilities that have the highest score based on the average score of two consecutive comprehensive surveys achieved without a follow up survey. 

The winners and runners-up will be selected by an independent judging panel consisting of five members from the Dubai Quality Awards judging panel. 

Dr. Ramadan Al Blooshi, CEO of DHCR, said, "Ensuring a fair and transparent selection process is fundamental to the success of the awards and this can only be achieved through an independent judging panel." 

In order to apply for the awards, clinical facilities must be operational in the free zone for more than a year, and the submitted initiatives should be complete, not in development stages. Facilities can apply for the Excellence Awards through the DHCR website.

The deadline for submitting entries is April 1st and the winners will be announced at a ceremony in May this year.