UAE’s Frontline Heroes Office launches discount programme for healthcare workers

The Fazaa Frontline Heroes initiative will give discounts to healthcare workers in thousands of shops and restaurants

Dr Abeer Darwish and her daughters Rand (pictured) and Raghad have received full scholarships under the Hayyakum initiative. Victor Besa / The National 

Frontline workers in the UAE can save on their shopping bills under a government initiative launched to support them.

The Fazaa Frontline Heroes initiative will give discounts to healthcare workers on 2,600 brands at more than 5,500 stores and 6,000 food outlets across the UAE.

The new discount programme will start on November 1.

Members will also be able to redeem discounts on various services such as car rentals, insurance and hotel reservations across the world.

They will get a 40 per cent discount on services at 131 hospitals in the UAE. Such services will include cosmetic treatments that are not covered by health insurance.

These discounts will benefit all those included in the UAE Frontline Heroes Registry.

In September, the government launched the Hayyakum programme to relieve the financial pressure of tuition fees for healthcare professionals.

The Frontline Heroes Office was set up in July 2020. More than 80,000 roles deemed essential to the fight against Covid-19 have been identified for the nationwide initiative.

The registry details the specialism of each professional, providing the government with a “detailed national picture of all those who serve on the front line”.

Among the 80,000 are healthcare practitioners, police, essential service providers, crisis managers, security and emergency service providers, humanitarian workers, cleaners and volunteers.