Strengths and Weaknesses of Abu Dhabi Healthcare System - Essay Example

Healthcare System Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Question 1 3 Question 2 6 Question 3 7 Question 4 10 References 14 Question 1 Strengths and weaknesses of the Abu Dhabi healthcare system Strengths The Abu Dhabi has a comprehensive insurance health policy that ensures al the citizens are covered. This insurance policy covers the citizens and the expatriates. According to Oxford Business Group (2007), the employed or working class have their own health insurance cover that carter for them and their families. The government workers and the military personnel also have their won type of insurance cover. The low class also are insured. These policies have ensured that every citizen and non citizen in the Abu Dhabi receives quality medical care at al times. This is a major advantage of the Abu Dhabi healthcare system. The government policy on healthcare has also ensured that the provision f healthcare in government clinics is free to its citizens. This has promoted the health standards in the country making it among the best and affordable compared to many countries. Adequate financing of the health department has also ensured the purchase of modern health equipment that has greatly contributed to saving lives and promote efficiency. Weaknesses Although the Abu Dhabi healthcare system is among the best in the world it has several weaknesses. The training of healthcare workers has not been quite successful. This is evident by the fact that most of the medical specialists are mainly from other countries. The country thus ends up spending more money on paying the specialists who are non citizens. The expatriates in the UAE are also under insured and most of them cannot afford quality medical care when they are faced with life threatening diseases or terminal diseases like cancer. Their health insurance cover does not cover for such illnesses. Some loopholes in the government insurance scheme have led to fraudulent private insurance providers exploiting the citizens. This is evident in the case of ENAYA health insurance for government workers (Buerhaus, 2000). Stengths Weaknesses Comprehensive insurance policy that covers all the citizens including expatriates. Expatrietriates are undercovered. Free medical care for all the citizens in government facilities Exploitattion of citizens by quakes Adequately funded by the government Some of the funds are not well utilized Large number of public hospitals well equiped and high number of doctors. The health sector limits private practice Major health reform ideas since 2003 in the Abu Dhabi Provision of quality medical care was a challenge to Abu Dhabi in the provision of modern treatment. The provision of medical care was mainly the responsibility of the government. However due to modern trends there was need for the local people and doctors to invest in the medical field. This was for the purpose of providing adequate and quality medical care for those who felt that the government facilities could not provide them with adequate medical care. This challenge led to the government reforming the health sector giving a considerable percentage of service provision to individuals and private companies. According to Buerhaus (2000), the rise of privatization was also a challenge to the government. The trend of privatization was also emerging in most parts of the world. The government therefore made the reforms which also attracted medical investors from other parts of the world. The government policy on compulsory health insurance was also a factor that led to reforms in the medical sector. This initiative and policy was aimed at ensuring that all the citizens and non citizens in the Abu Dhabi received quality medical care. However this policy presented a challenge. This is because there are different classes of people in the Abu Dhabi. Some people could afford paying for their insurance fees while some could not. The government therefore came up with insurance schemes that could accommodate everyone in the Abu Dhabi. This led to major reforms in the health sector that saw the streamlining of the insurance policies through reforms. Private stakeholders in the health sector were also accommodated in the insurance policies. Every individual in the Abu Dhabi thus fits to one category of insurance scheme. This includes expatriates (Oxford Business Group, 2007). The provision of healthcare was also facing a challenge due to the shortage of local staff. Most of the doctors and specialists in the Abu Dhabi were mainly expatriates. Few local people were studying medicine and related medical courses. Some of the few who were qualified migrated to other countries to start their own private practise or work in other medical institutions. The reason for this was because the government left little room for those who wanted to participate in private practise. The government was the main healthcare provider. This led to reforms which were aimed at attracting more of its citizens to study medicine and start practising in the country. This challenge was also serious that it led to medical tourism. This was a phenomenon that saw many of the Abu Dhabi citizens seek treatment in other countries. A few percentages were also not comfortable being treated by the expatriates. This was common among the rural population. Question 2 Comparison of Abu Dhabi, Germany, UK, Japan, and USA in terms of reimbursement of healthcare services by provider type Healthcare reimbursement is a term that is used to describe compensation or repayment for healthcare services. In the United States of America, the patients are usually treated before paying for the services The healthcare providers who include doctors and physicians usually requests for reimbursement for the costs they have incurred. Busse (2004) says that this is usually in accordance to the prescriptions made and diagnosis services. The claims are then taken to the insurance policy the patients are registered for payment. In the United Kingdom, there is a policy for reimbursement of healthcare services set by the government. The reimbursement of drugs is usually determined by the manufacturer using the Pharmaceutical price regulation. The healthcare service provider is paid according to their performance. A government agency called NICE is responsible for developing guidelines, In Japan it is compulsory to have a medical insurance cover. Different types exist just like the Abu Dhabi. However the healthcare reimbursement is strictly dependent on the style and medical practices found in different hospitals. In some cases it may be done when the patient is still in hospital. In Abu Dhabi, Reimbursement can be done directly to the patient after filing forms and presenting the original prescription form. The Abu Dhabi healthcare section is responsible for reimbursement (Drury, 2009). Germany UK Japan USA Abu-Dhabi Payment method Before treatment After treatment After treatment After treatment After treatment Insurance Not compulsory Compulsory Compulsory Compulsory Compulsory Cost Very high High Low High Low Number of doctors Highest in the world High Low High Very high Question 3 Comparison of UK, USA, Japan, Germany, Canada, and UAE in terms of distribution of medical technology. The impact that unregulated distribution of medical technology have on patient expectations and the costs of health care in each one of the countries The use of modern technology is not widely adopted in the UK. This is according to a report that was presented to parliament in 2009. The benefits of the medical technology in treatment and diagnosis of patients was also discussed. One of the advantage highlighted was the fact that the patients will no necessarily be required to go to hospitals instead they can receive treatment at home. However the disadvantage of this is that the contact between the patient and the doctor will be minimal. This will translate into a huge burden for the carers. However the main reason that the practice has not been fully adopted is the fact that the National Health Service has guidelines that makes it difficult for companies to import the equipment. The agency has also formed a department that deals with the regulation of the medical technology. Distribution of unregulated medical technology would impact negatively to the patients. This is because the harmful effects may be spread to patients although the cost might be low. The use of medical technology is widely adapted in the United States of America. Most of the hospitals have been equipped with equipment that uses modern technology. This has greatly improved the quality of treatment and many lives have been saved. However it has presented another challenge. The cost of treatment has gone up and efforts to cut down the use of the medical technology have worn little support. This is because most of the people in the US are not insured. They therefore prefer the treatment by medical technology which has proved to be good. The impact of the use of medical technology has been felt by employers who feel insuring their employees will increase their cost of operations. The medical technology has also resulted to an increase of medical care by 7%. Unregulated use of medical technology will increase the cost of treatment even further and it may have negative impacts on the treatment of patients if it is not well handled (Cole et al. 2000). In Japan 86% of the population support the use of medical technology. Their main reason being the fact that it is easier to diagnose diseases and prescribe treatment. Most of the people also prefer the use of medical technology for their family members whenever they feel ill. Some people also prefer medical technology since they feel it is useful in early detection of diseases and it has minimal invasiveness. Currently the use of medical technology has not been fully adopted by most of the healthcare facilities. This is because the authorities are yet to fully legalize the use of medical technology. The cost of its use is also set to increase despite its efficiency in treatment. Unregulated use of medical technology in Japan will result to increased cost of treatment and may have negative impacts in the treatment of the patients if it is not handled by experts (Cole et al. 2000). The adoption of medical technology in Canada is generally poor compared to the developed countries. According to Carlos (2008), Canada mainly relies on the use of les sophisticated medical technology. This is evident in the radiology department where Canada is still lagging behind. The main challenge in Canada is the maintenance of the modern technology equipment. This issue has made the government reluctant to adopt the system. Poor handling of the equipment will be disastrous to the patients. Unregulated use of the medical technology in Canada will be very harmful to the patients due to lack of expertise in maintenance. The cost of treatment will however be high. The Use of medical technology in Germany is highly practised. The use of medical technology was necessitated due to the benefits it offers. Germany is the leading country in the use of medical technology in Europe. It is also the third country in the world in the production of medical technology equipment. The sector of medical technology is full of experts that have ensured its growth. Its use is acceptable and is used for diagnosis of various diseases and their subsequent treatment. If the use is not regulated in Germany it may not have a bigger crisis compared to other countries since the number of experts dealing with medical technology is high. The cost might slightly reduce due to competition (Carlos, 2008). In the UAE, the government is fully committed to the use of medical technology. This is evident by the fact that most medical technology experts from Germany have been recruited by the government. This is mainly based on the advantages of the medical technology in treatment of diseases. The practise however has not been fully distributed throughout the UAE. Despite this, the practise is acceptable in the Abu Dhabi. However if the distribution is not controlled it will have effects on the patients since there are few local experts capable of using medical technology in he UAE. The cost of treatment will also rise due to maintenance and search for experts. Question 4 Compare the UAE (or Abu Dhabi), Canada, UK, Germany, and Japan, in terms of Quality and access to health care? Which country ranks the best and why? In the Abu Dhabi, the quality of the healthcare standards is ranked among the best in the world. This is mainly attributed to the huge investments that were made by the government on the health sector when the economy was performing well. The number of health facilities is high although most of them are owned by the government. Treatment for Abu Dhabi citizens is free in the local health clinics making access to healthcare service much easier to the citizens. Due to various health reforms, the government introduced compulsory health insurance schemes that cover all the people in Abu Dhabi. These insurance schemes are of different categories so as to enable everyone in the Abu Dhabi to be covered by a health insurance scheme. The presence of highly qualified medical personnel has also contributed to the improvement of the quality of health standards. Qualified doctors from all over the world have been recruited by the government and are well paid. Every hospital is also well equipped and serves all the medical needs for the citizens. The patient to doctor ratio is 1:1,200 In Canada the quality of health is the most important issue when it comes to healthcare service provision. Emphasis is usually placed on the on the safety of the patients. This has seen the establishment of a patient health safety agency which ensures that the patient receives the best medical attention. The provision of healthcare services is through government agencies which operate in provinces. Private healthcare services are also available. The waiting time for patients to receive healthcare services has also been reduced. This is after the government initiated a ten year healthcare program to improve the quality of health. However, not much resources are allocated to the healthcare department. Health insurance policies are also available with different schemes to ensure efficiency. Access to healthcare facilities is also good. The patient to doctor ratio is 2:1000 and is ranked the worst in OECD countries In the UK the provision of healthcare services is carried out by a government agency called the National Health Agency. The government allocates huge financial resources to this agency in order to enable it carry out its mandate. Treatment at tis facility is usually free except for some ailments and services like dental treatment. Anybody living in the UK is offered free medical treatment at the facilities run by those agency which basically covers all citizens. This has ensured easy access to medical care for people living in the UK at affordable rates. The quality is also regulated and the insurance schemes are available. Most private doctors are paid by the insurance depending on the outcome of their work. This has helped improve the quality of medical care in the UK. The patient to doctor ratio is 1:1800 Germany healthcare system is also considered among he best in the world. This is mainly attributed to the fact that it has many hospitals which are fully equipped and also qualified doctors. The insurance scheme is statutory and covers everyone so as to ensure that the quality is maintained. The rich pay more so as to carter for the health needs of the poor. Germany has the highest number of practising specialists in the world. This has made the quality improve and become among the best. Delivery of health services is good since no queues are experienced in hospitals. However its main disadvantage is the cost. The cost of treatment is very high and has seen individuals pay a lot of money for the healthcare services. The patient to doctor ratio is 2:1000 In Japan healthcare provision for some diseases is free to both the citizens and expatriates. The country has a high number or public and private clinics which address the heath needs of the people. The cost of treatment is generally low. The insurance policy in place is the universal healthcare insurance. The hospitals are well equipped with modern equipment and acces is easy to anyone living in Japan. However the doctors are mainly trained from western countries. The cost of studying medicine is high in Japan and most people do not study it. The expatriates also find it difficult to seek treatment since most of them do not understand the Japanese language. It has also been reported that the Japanese doctors have poor ethics when handling expatriates who are sick. Cases of overdosing patients have also been reported. However the government is putting up measures to improve the healthcare standards. The patient to doctor ratio is 1:1000 The healthcare system of the Abu Dhabi is ranked best compared to UK, Japan, Germany and Canada. This is mainly because the system carters for the healthcare need of all the people living there through insurance schemes which are quite affordable to all. The government is also committed in improving the healthcare provision and has employed doctors and specialists from all over the world. This has ensured that the quality of healthcare services is excellent and among the best in the world. It is also easily accessible to all citizens and expatriates living in the Abu Dhabi. The healthcare quality in Germany is also good but it is however very expensive. UAE Canada Japan Germany UK Doctor to patient ratio 1:1200 2:1000 1:1000 2:1000 1:1800 Quality of healthcare High Low High Very high High Cost Low High Low Very high High Insurance cover Compulsory for all citizens Not compulsory Not compulsory Not compulsory Compulsory Infant mortality rate Low Low High Low Low The indicators to the quality of health are mainly the mortality rate and the number of healthcare facilities. References Healthcare in Dubai, (2011). Health: New Expat Travel Insurane Plan Launched. Retrieved on January 5th, 2012 from Nina M, (2006), Gulf news:UAE requires fresh blood. Retrieved on December 5th, 2012 from Oxford Business Group (2007). The Report: Emerging Bahrain 2007. Oxford: Oxford Business Group. Cole, T. et al. (2000). Establishing a Standard Definition for Child Overweight and Obesity Worldwide International Survey. British Medical Journal , Vol. 320, pp. 1-6. Strasser, R. (2003). Rural health around the world: challenges and solutions. Family Practice. 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