University Hospital Sharjah (UHS), one of the leading healthcare providers in Sharjah and the UAE, celebrated its fourth anniversary this week on June 11 and plans further expansion to become the premium healthcare provider for the growing population in Sharjah and in the GCC region.

UHS will provide new services that will enhance and complement patient care and plans to spend more than AED 16.8 million this year that will add additional clinical services to the hospital.

HE Abdulla Ali Al Mahyan, Chairman Sharjah Health Authority and Chairman of Board of Trustees, UHS, said; “the progress in the medical sector in the emirate was due to the foresight of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah”.

“His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan had inaugurated UHS in 2011”

Dr. Abdul Aziz AlMuhairi, Director of Sharjah Health Authority and Vice Chairman of Board of Trustees, UHS, noted that the Hospital provides the best healthcare, consistent with Sharjah's goal to become a global healthcare provider.

UHS is located adjacent to the University of Sharjah's medical campus.
UHS will shortly add an Interventional Cardiology Unit for the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery and other heart diseases.

A new Hemodialysis Unit will be added which will use the latest ultra clean water system technology that will help the patients feel well for a longer time or until kidney transplant is undertaken.
 
Chronic kidney failure is a common consequence of high blood pressure due to dialysis and inadequate consumption of water. Patients with acute and chronic renal failure require dialysis three times per week. Without this treatment, the patients would not survive.

A Refractive Surgery Centre will be installed shortly for the correction of Long and Short sight, using laser surgery. The unit will be the most advanced in the UAE and the surgeries will be performed by some of the best ophthalmologists in the region.

A specialised Long-Term unit for the treatment of long-stay patients, both adults and children, will be set up in August 2015 and will include a ventilated unit for patients who need a device called a ventilator to help them breath.

One of the main problems of the ageing process is the greater incidence of diseases that cause problems such as a Stroke and Acute heart failure, respiratory failure, diabetic coma and other conditions require long-term care for many months, before the patient can go home.
As about 20 percent of the patients that come to the emergency section are children, UHS plans to add a dedicated Pediatric Emergency Room to provide specialist care in a timely manner, to ease the anxiety of the child and parents.

The incidence of infertility is very high in the UAE, UHS will partner with a major global In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment provider to help deliver a service that will have a high success rate of conceiving and will be a premium IVF service in the Northern Emirates.

The new medical services that have already been added this year include, Neuro-Spinal Surgery, Bariatric surgery & Plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery: It is estimated that 20 percent of the UAE population suffer from neck and back pain because of a high incidence of diabetes in the UAE (19 percent of the population), many patients develop cardiovascular disease. At the new Vascular Surgery Department, the vascular surgeon will also diagnose if a patient has peripheral vascular disease, the narrowing of the arteries in the leg that can cause diabetic foot, which if left untreated could lead to amputation of the foot.

Obesity, or the Disease of Affluence, is a worldwide problem and affects more than 66 percent of men and 60 percent of women in the UAE. Obesity leads to other debilitating diseases such as heart disease, high Blood Pressure, Diabetes and blindness. According to health authorities, UAE schoolchildren are more obese when compared to children in the US, because of a sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits.

While diet and exercise can help overweight people lose weight, those who are morbidly obese may require surgical help. A Bariatric Surgery unit at UHS will help obese patients lose at least 50 percent of their body mass in six to nine months. The surgery will reduce the size of stomach, thus reducing the food intake. One amazing side-effect of this surgery is that it will almost immediately cure type II diabetes.

The Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit at UHS will specialty supports many other departments such as reconstruction following accidents and cosmetic surgery to augment various parts of the body. The Hospital has accredited Western-trained plastic and aesthetic surgeons.

University Hospital Sharjah is also undergoing JCI (Joint Commission International) accreditation process to further improve quality of patient care, ensure a safe environment and to reduce risks to patients and staff.
Having a JCI accreditation, the gold standard in global health care quality measurement, would reassure the patients of Sharjah and Northern Emirates as well as the medical tourist that UHS is committed to delivering a high quality care.

UHS at present is committed to JCI’s patient safety goals that include reducing the risk of healthcare-associated infections and to implement a process for reporting critical results of diagnostic tests.