Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took concrete steps to protect the health of the children of Dubai and the UAE when he inaugurated the Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital (AJCSH), the only specialized pediatric hospital in the GCC. His vision was for it to be a world-class hospital of international repute and the pediatric hospital of the Government of Dubai. In order to realize this vision, HH Sheikh Mohammed set the framework for Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA) and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) to work together, to produce the first Dubai Government Hospital to be run by private sector standards.

Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital was transferred from the DHA to DHCA by Decree 30 in 2016. The transition ensured that AJCSH, as a governmental hospital, would thrive from its entitlement to key government-related benefits, such as copayment waivers and special treatment of UAE Nationals. Additionally, it would work on a shared funding scheme with a budget allocation from the UAE Ministry of Finance as a Government Hospital that is matched equally by DHCA to enable the hospital to achieve top standards in staffing and services. This is particularly important to secure the right of UAE Nationals to obtain the same care at Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital as they would at any other government facility.
 
The future direction indicated by HH Sheikh Mohammed would lead to the eventual centralization of all government pediatric services—with the exception of trauma—at Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital.  This strategy would provide an obvious advantage to patients and staff in terms of sufficient volume to keep up skills and improve outcomes in addition to ensuring that the government offers the very best services that it can to the children of the UAE.  Some services, such as trauma would need to remain at specialized centers like the Rashid Hospital Trauma Center, but others—such as pediatric surgery, pediatric oncology and pediatric kidney services, among others—will be transferred to AJCSH as it slowly ramps up its operational capacity throughout 2017.

The joint forces of DHCA and DHA, through the inauguration of Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital, has helped build the momentum for a number of strategic goals to also become a reality.  This new partnership has enabled a strong strategic and operational collaboration between Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital and Latifa Hospital.  These two government facilities—located on one campus and serving overlapping populations—will aim to provide seamless care.  A Women and Children’s Center of Excellence, made up of AJCSH and Latifa Hospital, is the vision for the future

Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital in DHCA’s Medical Cluster has been a driver for improvement within the organization:
 
DHCA Organizational Structure
In November 2016, the DHCA Board of Directors identified a need to revise its structure, in order to clearly separate the regulatory functions from its medical, education, research, and commercial activities through DHCC in order to completely protect its members from any conflict of interest within the Authority. The streamlining of these verticals, as well as the empowerment of their CEO’s, was essential.
 
The DHCA Board also saw fit to formally add a medical cluster vertical, Dubai Healthcare City Medical (DHCM) that would officially oversee the healthcare facilities under DHCA, run by a CEO. The medical cluster includes Dubai Dental Clinic, Dubai Bone and Joint, and Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital, and it will also house, on completion, the Mohammed Bin Rashid University Hospital.

A major part of the strategic approach for DHCM and Dubai Healthcare City Education & Research (DHCE & R), is the fact that they will rely heavily on the support of Al Jalila Foundation. As a result, HE Dr. Raja Al Gurg requested that she be allowed to fully concentrate on the running of Al Jalila Foundation, and the duties of Group CEO of DHCA were transferred to a new CEO, in order to allow a fully cohesive effort in executing the organization’s workload.  DHCA Chairperson HRH Princess Haya welcomed HE Dr. Raja’s suggestions as did the DHCA Board, and HE Dr. Raja will continue to serve as HRH Princess Haya’s Vice-Chair of the DHCA Board of Directors. Further to this, Prof. Sehamuddin Galadari, who has been key in pushing forward the plan that Education and Research now be merged under one vertical, is working with his former student Dr. Amer Al Sharif to ensure that this plan becomes a reality over the coming months. 

This structure was approved at the end of December 2016. On the 17th of January 2017, a public announcement regarding the structure was made with the announcement of Mr. Khalid Al Sheikh Al Shamsi being appointed by HRH Princess Haya to run DHCA and the Chairperson’s office in the Authority.  His main task will be to implement the new structure, ensuring that it is governed so that it functions as intended. The revised organizational structure also has the additional benefit that it also serves as a matrix that will enable Mr. Al Shamsi to further strengthen the DHCA administration and operations so that they fully service DHCA’s Member Community, as well as its own verticals Dubai Healthcare City Medical (DHCM), Dubai Healthcare City Education and Research (DHCE & R), and Dubai Healthcare City Investments (DHCI). 
 
On the 19th of January 2017, DHCA Chairperson HRH Princess Haya also announced the recruitment of Dr. Amer Al Zarooni, as CEO for DHCM.  Other recruits to further strengthen operations will be announced in the coming days and weeks. 

Specific Updates within the new DHCA Medical Cluster

Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital
In August 2016, DHCA Group CEO HE Dr. Raja Al Gurg formed a team headed by Dr. Abdulkareem Al Olama and Dr. Moza Al Zaabi, to take over Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital from the DHA and execute the transfer and inauguration of the hospital. Despite the incredible amount of work that this entailed, the team, in addition to all their other responsibilities in DHCC and DHCA, achieved this task, as planned, on November 8th 2016. DHCA Chairperson HRH Princess Haya and its Board of Directors praised the efforts, dedication, commitment and passion of the team, led by HE Dr. Raja Al Gurg, as they handed over Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital to its new operational team, appointed by the DHCA Board, on the 9th of November. Mr. Mark McGourty was appointed as the Board’s Special Representative to oversee the management team at AJCSH and ensure that they work to realize its ambitious vision for excellence in children’s healthcare.

During the last week of December, and as agreed with the DHA, the staff that had been transferred to help cover the launch and beginning of operations at AJCSH returned to the DHA with the thanks and gratitude of the DHCA Board for their support.  In a letter sent to HE Humaid Al Qatami, the Director General of DHA, mid-December from HRH Princess Haya, she also expressed her gratitude for their support, assuring them that although they were returning to their duties at DHA, they would always be seen as part of the AJCSH family.