New smart system to reduce medical tests

A new online medical fitness and occupational screening smart system that reduces the application processing time from two hours to just 30 seconds has been launched by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).

The 'Salem' system which was launched on Wednesday has been integrated with all medical fitness centres in Dubai and will reduce customer's waiting time, minimize human intervention to almost zero and make blood test and x-ray results available electronically.

Initially, however, only companies can register with the system and make the procedure easy for their employees. Currently, 3,000 companies are registered with DHA and are utilizing the online service.

Also read: Dubai introduces new medical tests, health card rule

Individual applicants still have two options - either to directly visit the DHA's 16 medical fitness centres where their applications will be processed using the Salem system or go to the 65 accredited services centres. The move is of significant importance given the vast number of people who require medical fitness services.
In 2015, total number of people who visited DHA run medical fitness centres were 2,051,802 - of these 843,085 were new applicants and the remaining were visa-renewals.

Maisa Al Bustani, Director of Medical Fitness Services Department at the DHA added that Salem is integrated with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai (GDRFA-D).

"Once the applicant completes all the due screening procedures, the applicant will receive a SMS notification alert and we will send the results electronically via an email.She added that all the authority has also begun the process of streamlining medical fitness services to enhance the customer's journey and make service centers a one-stop-shop for them.

Al Bustani said with the new system, customers do not need any papers; the data will be retrieved from GDRFA.

All what they have to do to obtain their medical fitness test is visit the service centre and update their email and contact number.

"Companies with employees above 50 do not need to go through service centres as we provide them with unique usernames and passwords so that they can directly fill the applications online using the system. Individuals and companies with less than 50 employees need to go through service centres to fill out their application for visa issuance and renewal." She said.

A list of accredited typing centres is available on DHA's website. Most of the medical fitness centres have a typing centre in the same premise and they are accredited.

"We will also make sure that all these centres are geographically distributed evenly across Dubai to ensure that residents are able to go to a centre that is in proximity to his/her home," she added.

On the occasion, the Director General of DHA Humaid Al Qattami inaugurated the Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT) Medical Fitness Centre that has a capacity to accommodate 5,000 applicants a day.

Medical fitness test is a mandatory requirement for all expats in the UAE. Medical Fitness screening is a prerequisite for a residency, employment or education visa.
Medical fitness test options:

- Regular for Dh270 and results delivered in five days (except for female household domestic services)
- Regular (Female household domestic service) Dh320 (five days)
- 24hrs Dh480 (All categories excluding female household domestic service)
- 24 hrs Dh530 (Female household domestic services)
- 48hrs Dh380 (All categories excluding household domestic service)
- 48hrs Dh430 (Female household domestic service)
- 4hrs Dh700 all categories excluding household domestic service
- 2hrs (new service) Dh1,020 VIP service available only at Dubai Business Village Centre.
 
The Tawajod service is also available where DHA employees visit the office or home of the individual who has requested for this service and conduct the medical fitness tests required on the spot. For every request, a maximum of 70 employees are tested. ?This service also beneficial for homemakers who do not wish to go to a medical fitness centre to renew their visa.

Source: Khaleej Times