Pakistani medical centre for low-paid Dubai workers could get green light in two months

Officials at Pakistan Association Dubai’s Medical Wing have wanted to build a dedicated centre to provide treatment for disadvantaged people for more than three years and now planning permission could be granted soon.

“The idea is to convert one of the halls to provide an area where patients can be examined,” said Aamerah Shah, general secretary of Pad’s medical wing. Jeff Topping / The National

DUBAI // Work on a new Dh4.5 million medical centre for the Pakistani community could begin in a couple of months.

Officials at Pakistan Association Dubai’s medical wing have wanted to build a dedicated centre to provide treatment for disadvantaged people for more than three years.

If approved, construction will take place at Pad’s existing headquarters in Bur Dubai and cost Dh1.7m, with the rest of the budget going towards running the centre for a year.

“The idea is to convert one of the halls to provide an area where patients can be examined,” said Aamerah Shah, general secretary of Pad’s medical wing.

The association has been running monthly medical camps in Dubai since 2009 but, because of demand, needs the centre to be able to help as many people as possible. “That is why we are planning to build a special medical centre on Pad’s premises,” Mrs Shah said.

So far Dh800,000 of the Dh1.7m for the building work has been raised. The remaining Dh2.8 million will go towards the cost of maintaining and running the centre and Pad will start fundraising for this once official planning permission has been granted.

“We have had pledges from the community in terms of materials for the construction of the new centre,” said Mrs Shah.

Pad has come up with a payment structure it feels will make the centre sustainable and cost-effective in the long-term, charging patients a nominal fee of Dh25 for consultations.

“There are people in the community who cannot afford even that, so we will be providing medical treatment through our donation fund,” she said.

“We feel that this is a sustainable method to keep the centre running for the future because, when you consider that it costs upwards of Dh600 for a consultant at one of the big hospitals here, I think there will be many, many people who will want to take advantage of this.

“There are more than 500 Pakistani doctors, surgeons, dentists and other health professionals working in hospitals across the UAE and they will be volunteering their time to help.”

The plan is for building to start within the next two months and Mrs Shah said it had taken so long because “it is the first time anyone is doing a medical system based on this system and so the relevant authorities need time to go over our plans”.

Final approval from the Community Development Authority and Dubai Health Authority is pending but officials at the association are confident they will be given the go-ahead soon.

More than 300 people, mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds, use the existing Pad clinics, which have specialists from a range of disciplines.

“The camps run on the last Friday of every month and the most common issues we come across are diabetes and hypertension,” she said.