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Without universal health coverage, people can be forced to pay for the costs of their healthcare, leading to burdens and poverty. 'Universal health coverage: Everyone, everywhere' under the slogan 'Health for All' is the theme for World Health Day (WHD) on April 7.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), without coverage, lives and welfare of millions of people around the world are negatively affected, particularly in low-income countries.
The UAE already recognises this need and over the past years has implemented varied levels of health cover. While Abu Dhabi has the Al Thiqa plan that covers Emiratis and residents, Dubai rolled out the basic health insurance in 2013 and today it covers over 98 per cent of the Dubai population.
The government is also planning a federal insurance plan that will provide basic cover to all Emiratis and residents in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates.
"The two per cent remaining are those who are still not aware of the insurance cover and others who come on visit visas," said Dr Ali Lutfi, head of health funding at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).
He said the authority was always looking at data to improve the insurance plan for blue-collared workers who make up majority of the emirate's work force.
According to the WHO, almost 100 million people are being pushed into extreme poverty, forced to survive on just $1.90 or less a day, because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets. In the Eastern Mediterranean region, 40 per cent of the health expenditure comes directly from people's pockets; people on low incomes and without social protection are the hardest hit.
As many as 55.5 million people across the region face financial hardship as a result of out-of-pocket health expenditure, and as many as 7.7 million are pushed into poverty due to these costs. In some countries of the region, out-of-pocket payments for health services account for over 70 per cent of total national spending on health
"Universal health coverage is a fundamental human right," said Dr Jaouad Mahjour, acting WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Universal coverage means all communities receive the healthcare services they need without suffering financial hardship. It enables everyone to access the services that address the most important causes of disease and death, and ensures that those services are of sufficient quality to improve the health of the people who receive them.
"It is also about ensuring access to essential quality care and financial protection," Dr Mahjour added. "This not only enhances people's health and their life expectancy, it also protects countries from epidemics, reduces poverty and the risk of hunger, creates jobs, drives economic growth and enhances gender equality."
Dr Osama Gamal, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Medcare Hospital Sharjah, opined: "Health is a human right and healthy populations mean prosperous nations. Dubai has been actively implementing mandatory health insurance. The idea behind this is that the benefits of investing in healthcare greatly surpasses costs incurred. To make Universal health coverage a reality, we need fully-funded strong health systems, accountability, access to all social determinants of health and lastly but not least civil society engagement."
Dr Suresh K Menon, specialist internal medicine at Aster Gardens Specialty Clinic, Discovery Gardens, added: "This year's theme for World Health Day, Universal Health Coverage, means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. It is essential as it takes away the stress of healthcare from the people especially in the wake of increasing healthcare costs."
Talking about how Dubai's mandatory health insurance has been helping patients, Dr Suresh said: "Mandatory health insurance is in keeping with and definitely a step forward towards achieving Universal Health Coverage. It helps the low-income workers to earn their living without worrying about keeping a bulk of their salaries towards basic health costs."
About how healthcare organisations and governments can make 'universal health coverage' a reality for communities in the near future in UAE, Dr Suresh said that some basic insurances have a problem of reduced coverage and it sometimes becomes difficult to get approvals for certain treatments/procedures. "More involvement by health insurance companies and providers is necessary to collectively work towards providing low cost/affordable care to all," he added.
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