The Department of Health-Abu Dhabi (DoH) and Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, in collaboration with National Health Insurance Company-Daman, recently launched the pilot phase of a new initiative aimed at providing comprehensive healthcare services to high-risk individuals in the Emirate, including, elderly senior citizens and residents above 60-years-old and those suffering from chronic health conditions.

Through this initiative, patients will be able to complete their medical treatments with maximum safety amid the pandemic. In the trial phase itself, the initiative is scheduled to benefit around 12,000 participants across the Emirate. To carry out this initiative, DoH, Abu Dhabi Centre of Public Health and Daman are working in coordination with various public and private healthcare facilities to reach out to the target groups to create awareness about the significant benefits of the services they will receive through the initiative. These benefits include a range of healthcare services varying from doctor’s remote consultations, homecare to remote monitoring of the treatment. At the same time, DoH will also coordinate the patients' visits to the healthcare facilities in accordance with their health conditions.

Based on the risk stratification algorithm devised by DoH and Daman, the first target group identified by the authorities include those individuals suffering from serious or chronic illness. This target group was identified by the DoH and Daman the medical claim history of the members and data analytics capabilities of the National Health Insurance Company.

This initiative has been launched under the broader ‘Community Healthcare programme for senior citizens suffering from chronic diseases’ of the DoH and Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre which is aimed at providing continuous healthcare services and treatments to high-risk groups amid COVID-19 infection and to safeguarding public health and wellbeing at large.

Responding to the development, Dr. Hamed Al Hashemi, Director of Strategic affairs at DoH, noted that elderly population and people with chronic illnesses are the main priority of the healthcare authorities amid the pandemic. He stated that it is significant to regularly monitor their health conditions and to ensure that their treatment plans continue uninterrupted, particularly in view of the current situation of the pandemic crisis.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has presented us with many challenges, however, it has not hindered our efforts to provide all members of society with the healthcare services they need. We have been keen to develop new ways to ensure the availability of continuous and integrated healthcare services and ensure timely access for everyone in the emirate," Dr Al Hashemi said.

He further expressed happiness towards working in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre and Daman to ensure that the most vulnerable members of the community are able to avail the necessary healthcare services and provisions when they need it the most.

Adding to his remarks, Hamad Al Mehyas, CEO at National Health Insurance Company-Daman, asserted that with the help of their state-of-the-art risk stratification algorithm, they were able to review millions of data inputs and identify various individuals suffering from serious or chronic disease such that they are able to benefit from the wide range of healthcare services provided through the initiative, including remote consultations and monitoring.

Through these services, the high-risk groups will be protected from any potential virus infections during their visit to a medical facility. He added that the algorithm takes into account the age, gender, comorbidities, complicated malignancies and other relevant factors of the individuals to review and assess potential risks.

"We are proud to continue our strong and collaborative partnership with DoH and the Abu Dhabi Public Health centre on this vital initiative, using our advanced data analytics capabilities that we hope to extend to all patients as we move through the trial phase. It is our mission to ensure integrated care for each patient continues sustainably and safely, and improves upon policies in place before the pandemic," Al Mehyas said.

WAM