ABU DHABI // Two specialist hospitals would help to end the need for patients to travel oversees for expert rehabilitation when they open next year.
Each 90-bed centre would employ about 200 medical professionals, including physical therapists and cognitive specialists, and meant patients could be treated close to their loved ones.
The centres are to have family rooms, gardens, a therapeutic aquatic facility and relaxation areas so patients can feel more at home.
“There are no dedicated rehabilitation centres like this in the UAE,” said Andrew Escamilla, the chief executive of TVM Capital Mena.
The Abu Dhabi and Al Ain centres would provide care for those in need of short-term comprehensive rehabilitation as they recovered, or inpatient medical treatment for longer-term chronic conditions, he said.
“Some patients, they will live for a very long time with us,” Mr Escamilla said. “Others will be here for a few months.”
He said demand was high for rehabilitation in the UAE.
The two Cambridge Medical and Rehabilitation Centres would help to plug that gap for adults and children, Mr Escamilla said.
They would treat people who have, for example, developed a weakness in the arm after a stroke, and anyone recovering from spinal cord injuries.
They would also treat children born with cognitive disabilities or patients recovering from a road traffic accident.
It would also offer short-term treatment for post-surgery patients, such as those recovering from joint and hip operations.
“The scope is wide open,” said Mr Escamilla. “The biggest gap we will be filling is this comprehensive rehabilitation offering. There is a tremendous need for care in this regard.”
He said TVM’s sister company, ProVita, with clinics in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, identified a critical gap in long-stay care providers that had a more specialised service in a non-hospital setting.
Like ProVita, the new centres would offer individualised care with a focus on rehabilitation, rather than for patients reliant on ventilators, such as those born with degenerative disorders or congenital diseases.
Mr Escamilla said a fact-finding mission on rehabilitation centres overseas found many UAE patients had sought treatment abroad.
The two new facilities would enable local residents to return home for specialised treatment near their loved-ones, he said.
Long-term care centres like the new Cambridge facilities would also help take the strain off intensive care units, he said.
The Abu Dhabi centre in Khalifa City B is to open by March, while building has begun at the Al Ain facility, which is to open in October.
“Every patient will be treated with dignity, respect and compassion, while the team prepares them to return home independently or with assistance from family members and home health services,” Mr Escamilla said.
“Patients will be seen daily by a physician who directs their plan of care in collaboration with nursing and therapy staff, and the emphasis is on acute rehabilitation with a high level of physiotherapy.”
Cambridge medical and rehabilitation centres are affiliated with Boston’s Spaulding Rehabilitation network, a Harvard medical school teaching hospital.
jbell@thenational.ae