Abu Dhabi imposes Dhs1m fine, closes 8 health centres

The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the emirate’s healthcare regulator, has imposed a Dhs1m fine on a local healthcare centre and referred several doctors for investigation for violating healthcare regulations and policies.

“The centre is prohibited from offering dental services across all branches due to suspected fraudulent activities aimed at misappropriating public funds,” DoH said in a statement.

The Abu Dhabi healthcare watchdog also ‘temporarily’ closed eight healthcare facilities, including an occupational medicine centre, a laboratory, and a medical centre, over a series of serious breaches.

DoH said the violations included non-compliance with regulations for electronic reporting and a disregard for the department’s standards concerning public health statistics reporting.

The regulator closed an additional four home care facilities due to their failure to comply with the department’s standards and regulations.  The home care centres failed to obtain proper patient consent for treatment and neglected to provide comprehensive explanations of treatment procedures and associated risks.

The DoH announced that it fined a health centre one million dirhams, referred some of its doctors for investigation on suspicion of fraud, canceled the dental speciality in all its branches and barred them from offering these services in the future.

— دائرة الصحة – أبوظبي (@DoHSocial) February 4, 2024

The facilities are also accused of failing to provide essential medicines, medical supplies, or devices for emergency cases. Furthermore, some of the centres employed individuals not licensed to provide home care services.

Furthermore, the regulator said the facilities fell short in maintaining the necessary supplies, materials, and devices and failed to meet standards for the proper handling and disposal of medical waste and secure storage of patient medical records.

DoH said a dental clinic was also forced to halt operations for “several violations including the employment of unlicensed healthcare professionals” as well as not “adhering to the sterilisation protocols and the use of non-sterile medical supplies”.

Abu Dhabi called on all healthcare facilities operating in the city to comply with its policies and regulations to preserve the efficiency of the healthcare system while preserving the health and safety of the community.

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