UAE to roll out new Smart Health Card for all residents

Health data, including registration as an organ donor, will now be part of the Emirates ID card.
The Ministry of Health and Protection launched the initiative in coordination with the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship at Arab Health on Wednesday.
The Smart Health Card will include medical data of all residents and the first phase will be launched in the first quarter of 2019.
It will initially be implemented in the ministry's hospitals and primary healthcare centres before being rolled out for the entire country.
The card will use a smart chip to save five major ailments for the patient including allergies, blood type, diagnosis, chronic disease and organ donation. The rest of the information will be available online which doctors can access using the smart reader.
Awad Saghir Al Ketbi, Assistant Undersecretary of the Support Services Sector at the ministry said that that the project is the result of the ministry's efforts to develop health services based on modern technology and to ensure speed of delivery and service facilitation.
The card is a GCC wide project and doctors in all GCC countries will be able to read the medical records in the card in cases of emergency but will not be able to write, said Mabarakah Mubarak Ibrahim, director of the Information Technology Department at the ministry.
"The smart card ensures confidentiality and privacy of data so that health care providers can review the necessary data such as blood type, health insurance and vaccinations, infectious or chronic diseases, latest surgical procedures, results of laboratory analysis, as well as information on the drugs that the patient responded to or caused sensitivity," she said.
- asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com