Doctors are to be rated on their care by patients as part of an online initiative being rolled out by Dubai Health Authority.
The new online portal - which is expected to go live this month - will also allow users to check the cost of private treatment.
DubaiHealthBooking.com will link to private and government hospitals and clinics to offer patients greater choice and transparency over the quality of service they can expect to receive.
The health authority hopes the service will provide a boost to the emirate's medical tourism ambitions.
Although doctors will be unable to contest the ratings they receive, all gradings for health professionals and clinics will be checked by DHA regulators, before being made public.
Pricing and insurance approvals for all medical procedures will also be available online.
“This platform will allow patients to search for a speciality, a specific doctor or centre and schedule an appointment instantly,” said Maisa Al Bustani, a DHA innovation team leader.
“It will allow patients to get the right medical care at the right time.
“The platform will also show patients whether the facility or service is covered by their insurance, and allow patients to rate their experience.”
The first public health facilities and services featured on the website will include the Paediatric Department at Hatta Hospital and Family Medicine Department in both Al Twar and Al Mankhool Primary Healthcare Centres.
Private medical facilities featured on the website will include 17 Medcare Hospital branches, Valiant Clinic, Medeor Hospital, Thumbay Hospital and American Hospital, with more likely to follow in the future.
All current medical facilities in Dubai should be added to the portal by the end of the year, the DHA said.
This will include healthcare provider and professional profiles for more than 3,700 facilities and 33,000 health workers.
The DHA also announced improvements to its existing Sheryan system of healthcare licensing.
“All our regulations will be automated using artificial intelligence, so applications from health professionals and clinics for licensing can be done much faster,” said Dr Marwan Al Mulla, CEO of health regulation at DHA.
“Once approved, registration will be valid for five years and allow clinics to search from an online database of certain specialist clinicians.”
Applications submitted previously, with humans checking the validity of each submission, could take up to four weeks to process.
This new method, supported by blockchain technology, to secure access to sensitive data between two parties, can take as little as five minutes.
“Doctors and other professionals will not need to be in the UAE to do this, they can do it from outside of the country, so it will make the process easier for them,” said Dr Al Mulla.
How it works
DubaiHealthBooking.com explained
- Patients will register using their health card numbers and connect to their primary healthcare centre.
- Signed on patients will search for doctors and available slots and request a booking.
- The registrar will receive the request to confirm the booking or amend it, then schedule an appointment into hospital's system.
- The patient will receive appointment notification via SMS and email. Reminders will also be sent before a day from the visit.
- The patient will arrive at the appointment and the registrar will check-in the patient in the hospital's system and through DubaiHealthBooking.com.
- The patient will receive an invitation to rate the experience and provide feedback.
- The admin will review the feedback and approve it.
- Care seekers will then have the data they need to make an informed decision.
