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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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United Arab Emirates
Index
In the years before the discovery of oil, the health
situation in the amirates was poor. Those who could afford
it
obtained modern treatment abroad; those who could not had
to make
do with traditional remedies. Britain became interested in
the
region's welfare when it perceived that the United States
would
gain local influence in the scramble for oil through the
successes of United States missionary doctors, who, in
Muscat and
Bahrain, operated the only hospitals in the region. As a
result,
in 1938 Britain appointed a medical officer for the
Trucial Coast
and sent an Indian physician to serve in a dispensary in
Dubayy
the following year.
In 1949 the British government built Al Maktum
Hospital, a
small hospital in Dubayy, and appointed a British
physician from
the Indian Medical Service to initiate modern medical
service.
Contributions to health care also came from Kuwait, Iran,
and the
Trucial States Development Fund. Earlier suspicions by the
British notwithstanding, in the 1950s and 1960s American
Mission
hospitals were established in Sharjah, Al Ayn, and Ras al
Khaymah.
In 1965 the Abu Dhabi government employed one
physician;
three others were in private practice. The amirate also
received
technical and material assistance from Egypt. After
federation in
1971, rapid growth but a lack of coordination
characterized the
health system. Although cooperation in the health field
among
amirates had improved by the early 1990s, oil companies
and the
military continued to have their own medical facilities.
All residents received free medical care until 1982. In
that
year, escalating costs, shrinking oil revenues, and a
change in
attitude toward foreign residents caused the UAE to begin
charging noncitizens for all services except emergency and
child
and maternity care.
In 1985 there were 2,361 physicians, 6,090 nurses, 242
dentists, and 190 pharmacists, almost all of whom were
foreigners. In 1986 the UAE had forty public hospitals
with 3,900
beds and 119 clinics. In 1990 life expectancy at birth was
68.6
years for males and 72.9 years for females. The major
causes of
death registered in Abu Dhabi in 1989 per 100,000
population were
accidents and poisonings, 43.7; cardiovascular diseases,
34.3;
cancer, 13.7; and respiratory diseases, 8.1. As of
December 1990,
eight cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
were
reported in the UAE. Infant mortality declined
dramatically from
103 per 1,000 live births in 1965 to twenty-three per
1,000 live
births in 1990. In 1985 a health worker attended 96
percent of
births.
In the early 1990s, the UAE had a modern health care
system
with facilities and professionals capable of providing
excellent
care and performing advanced procedures such as organ
transplants
and complex heart surgery. Although facilities are
concentrated
in the cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubayy, most of the
population has
access to at least basic facilities. The federation's
first
hospital specializing in pediatric and maternity care, the
374-
bed Al Wasl Hospital in Dubayy, opened in the late 1980s.
The New
Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi, a private facility, is
equipped to
treat diving accidents. Most hospitals are run by the
government.
The UAE also has created an extensive social welfare
network
that includes family care centers aimed at solving
domestic
problems and training women in domestic skills and
handicrafts.
Psychological care is available for troubled youths. The
National
Assistance Law provides benefits to victims of
catastrophic
illnesses and disasters. Widows, orphans, the elderly, the
disabled, and others unable to support themselves receive
social
security payments. In 1975 nearly 24,000 citizens
benefited from
Dh87.7 million in such social aid; in 1982 approximately
121,000
persons received a total of Dh275 million.
Other benefits given UAE citizens are free housing and
subsidized furnishings. However, the Ministry of Public
Works and
Housing reported in 1992 that 70 percent of 15,000
governmentbuilt low-income houses had deteriorated to the point of
being
uninhabitable. Among the causes were damage from
groundwater
salinity, failure to grant proprietary rights, and
withdrawal of
a Dh10,000 per house maintenance grant.
Data as of January 1993
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