An Update on the State of Palliative Care Development in the United Arab Emirates

An Update on the State of Palliative Care Development in the United Arab Emirates.

The United Arab Emirates has recently celebrated its 50th birthday since its inception as an independent sovereign
federal state in 1971. Over the past 5 decades, the UAE’s healthcare sector has grown exponentially to include over 140 hospitals in both the public and private sectors.

Hospitals within the UAE provide a wide variety of services and maintain high quality standards, with over 206 national institutions and speciality programs boasting the Joint Commission International gold seal of
approval–exceeding all other countries in the Middle East.

The majority of medical specialties are represented, particularly in the
major conurbations of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Palliative Care is among the more recent additions to the
medical specialty landscape in the UAE.

The first palliative care service within the public health service was established in 2007 at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, as a consult service alongside their oncology service.

This matured into a separate division within the oncology department and now provides in-patient and out-patient consults for both adults and children, dedicated in-patient beds, a palliative care nurse outreach
service and close collaboration with anesthesia for interventional pain management. To date, the Tawam palliative care team remains the sole palliative care service within the public health sector.

Palliat Med Hosp Care Open J. 2022; 8(2): 27-29. doi: 10.17140/PMHCOJ-8-149