DHA delivers 800,000 drugs to patients

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) revealed that 34,000 medical prescriptions, which included 270,000 types of medication and totalled 800,000 medicines, were delivered through its “Dawa’ee” free medicine home delivery service.

The medication was delivered to patients’ homes across the country from the beginning of March to mid of May, 2020.

Dr. Ali Al Sayed, Director of the Pharmaceutical Services Department at the DHA, revealed that when the authority initially launched the service last December, it was only covering Dubai, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has expanded in March to include the whole country.

He said that the DHA’s Dawa’ee service aims to provides free medicine delivery across the UAE to the homes of elders and people of determination who require medicines on a regular basis to treat conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

The authority revealed that it has partnered with Talabat to increase the delivery fleet and  expand the Dawa’ee service to ensure that those who are most vulnerable to the symptoms of the coronavirus (COVID-19) receive their medication while they are safe at home. Dr Sayed also stressed that the DHA’s 21 pharmacies are working day and night to cater to visitors of outpatient clinics and hospitals and that more than 2,000 medical prescriptions are dispensed per day.

A recent report said the Dubai Health Authority, DHA, was set to start using blood plasma from recovered coronavirus, COVID-19, patients to treat critical COVID-19 cases, following the UAE’s announcement that it will adopt this treatment method. The DHA will implement the treatment, known as convalescent plasma therapy, during the course of this week.

Dr. Younis Kazim, CEO of Dubai Healthcare Corporation at the DHA, said that the DHA has introduced the protocol for convalescent plasma therapy at DHA hospitals and private hospitals in Dubai in an important step towards the treatment and prevention of the spread of COVID-19. He added that a number of specialised doctors from the DHA have put in place protocol for using convalescent plasma therapy based on international standards. They have also outlined rules and guidelines to specify who can make based plasma donations and who is eligible to receive this treatment.

He added that the DHA has taken this step after international medical results found that once a person recovers from the virus, they develop antibodies that will stay in their blood to fight the same virus.