MoHAP supports Medical Liability Law
The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has underlined that the Cabinet’s approval for the Executive Regulation of the Federal Law No. 4 of 2016 on medical liability is reinforcing the country’s health system and efficiency of medical services to align with the latest international developments and to consolidate the UAE’s position at the global level.
MoHAP added that the executive regulation obviously outlines the controls and requirements of medical facilities’ performance to realise patient satisfaction and happiness, and to achieve transparency and integrity in the duties and responsibilities of the medical professionals in the country, as per the profession prerequisites in terms of accuracy and honesty according to the scientific principles.
The executive regulation clearly defines the medical errors and sets out a system for complaints, besides developing the mechanism of Medical Liability Committees and the Medical Liability Supreme Committee formation.
It also states the investigation mechanism with medical professionals and civil liability insurance against medical errors.
Criteria
Furthermore, the Executive Regulation of the Federal Law No. 4 of 2016 details the important rules, most notably the criteria of a gross medical error and its legal repercussions. Taking into account that the Medical Liability Committees are exclusively the entities vested with examining the complaints and their conformity to those criteria, in particular, that each complaint has different circumstances.
Remote Medical Services
Among the most important updates set out in this legislation is the provision of remote medical services that are witnessing a great advancement in several developed countries. Therefore, health legislation has to keep pace with these rapid transformations in terms of providing medical services, considering the development of necessary controls.
This is a significant transformation that contributes to the development of healthcare services and their fulfillment to patient needs in accordance with the best international practices.
Protection of Patients Information
The regulation also outlines the controls and requirements, of circulation of medical information between doctors in the interest of protecting public health.
This procedure is one of the important additions to the medical liability law, where health authorities shall be allowed to carry out enormous programs and initiatives related to public health protection.
Medical Liabilities Committees
These committees will exclusively examine the medical liability complaints and their procedures, as well as means of submitting medical error complaints and rules of civil liability insurance against medical errors.
Self-audit
The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has recently launched the “Self-Audit” initiative within the context of developing its measures in accordance with health regulations and laws.
The initiative focuses on promoting the quality of services provided by the private sector, so as to simplify the process of obtaining international accreditation.
A list of inspection standards on health facilities has been published by MoHAP, so that those facilities can conduct self-auditing process on their services and utilities, thus taking the corrective measures in accordance with the approved standards. In the meantime, the inspection team will conduct regular visits to those facilities to make sure that the required standards are met.
The initiative aims at acquainting private health facilities with the technical criteria, and MoHAP’s regulations and laws with a view to raising awareness among the owners of medical facilities, enhancing their spirit of responsibility and self-control, and reducing medical errors.
