Dubai Healthcare City: Dubai's Most Extensive Medical Project To Date

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and ruler of Dubai, envisioned a grand project that will make Dubai a highly-preferred healthcare center in the world. And so the Dubai Healthcare City came into being.

The Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) is an integration of the best in clinical services, research, and medical education. Basically, two very important zones make up the DHCC - the Medical Community and the Wellness Community. The former is already operational, while the latter is still in the planning stages.

The Medical Community:

This zone, which has an area of 380,902.5 square meters (4.1 million square feet), has seen rapid growth since its establishment. The 80 or so clinics located here are staffed by more than a thousand healthcare professionals, all of whom are licensed by the Centre for Healthcare Planning of the DHCC. This licensing prerequisite ensures that all the services being provided at DHCC satisfy the standards set by the different international accreditation bodies (example, the Joint Commission International).

The Medical Community houses the following medical entities:

• Harvard Medical School Dubai Centre (HMSDC) Institute for Postgraduate Education and Medical Research;

• University Teaching Hospital (UH);

• Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research (DHFMR);

• Boston University Institute for Dental Research and Education Dubai (BUIDRE).

• Al Maktoum Harvard Medical Library.

The Wellness Community:

This zone, which has an area more than four times that of the Medical Community's (1.77 million square meters or 19 million square feet), is intended to serve as the region's center for integrative and preventive medicine. As the name it carries suggests, this zone also aims to be the region's primary center for the advancement of wellness.

The Wellness Community will have the following features:

• A health and long-term care facility;

• Outpatient clinics;

• A facility for sports medicine;

• A cosmetic services center;

• A center for the promotion of active lifestyle;

• A five-star hotel and spa resorts;

• A residential district with food and retail outlets.

As a whole, the DHCC offers a complete range of medical and other complementary services, which include those in the following 19 fields:

1. Cardiology

2. Immunology

3. Chiropractic

4. Family medicine

5. Anesthesia

6. Dentistry

7. Pediatrics

8. Obstetrics

9. Urology

10. Dermatology

11. Orthopedic

12. Neurology

13. Internal medicine

14. Physical therapy

15. Radiology

16. Plastic surgery

17. Endocrinology

18. Gastroenterology

19. General surgery

Consider these big names that are getting on board the DHCC: Johnson and Johnson, Novartis, the Mayo Clinic, Astra Zeneca, the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery Hospital, and the German Heart Center, among others.

The entire Dubai Healthcare City is expected to be fully operational in 2011 at the latest. It is strategically located at the heart of Dubai City, in the historic district of Bur Dubai. It is near the Dubai Creek and is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away from the Dubai International Airport. The best way to reach DHCC from Abu Dhabi is via the E 11 highway.