DHCA ROLLS OUT E-LICENSES FOR DOCTORS AND NURSES AS PART OF COVID-19 INITIATIVES

Tuesday, Apr 14, 2020

Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA) today announced the launch of its eLicense initiative for healthcare professionals as part of several measures to support its licensed frontline health workers.

To support national efforts towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, physicians, nurses and allied healthcare professionals are permitted to work in multiple facilities across the UAE. Further, several professionals are volunteering in roles that utilise their medical background in addition to their current scope of practice.

With the introduction of the eLicense, which is secure and tamper-proof, healthcare professionals will benefit from reduced administrative requirements such as shorter wait time to receive a printed license, instant updates when a new permanent employer is added or license is renewed, and no fees for printing and delivery.

Apart from the eLicense, DHCA has introduced other updates to ensure that professionals can renew their license in the face of current challenges. DHCA has studied the challenges that healthcare professionals face while renewing their licenses, mainly, stipulated number of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) trainings (50% in person) and Basic Life Support (BLS) (only in-person). For the time being, in-person trainings are not accessible, and professionals are negatively impacted as these trainings are required for their licensure.

To support its 4,500+ professionals, Dubai Healthcare City Authority – Regulatory (DHCR), the regulator of the Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) free zone, now accepts 100% online CPD training and BLS courses.

“By introducing such measures we are reducing the administrative burden on doctors, nurses and allied professionals in the free zone who risk their lives to keep us safe as well as professionals who are licensed to work in branches of DHCC-based clinical facilities,” said Jamal Abdulsalam, CEO, DHCA.

He added, “The Professional eLicense initiative is in line with the UAE Government’s digital transformation efforts. It also taps into a crucial aspect of ensuring business continuity as the service in entirely online and doesn’t require the healthcare professional to visit our offices in person.”