Meenu Mahak Soni

Cost of Breast Cancer Treatment by Comorbidity in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates: A Retrospective Data Analytical Approach - European Journal of Breast Health

Background: Dubai’s healthcare system is designed to meet the growing needs of its population while maintaining high standards of accessibility, quality, equity, and responsiveness. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) uses planning tools to assess residents’ health requirements and implement effective regulatory strategies. This study compares trend data from the 2018 and 2022 Dubai Clinical Services Capacity Plan (DCSCP) reports to understand how population changes have impacted healthcare demand and to identify service gaps addressed over four years with particular focus on key medical specialties in high demand. Methodology: This study retained the methodologies used in the 2018 and 2022 Dubai Clinical Services Capacity Plan (DCSCP) reports, capturing healthcare supply through a census of licensed facilities in Dubai and estimating demand using a need-based approach aligned with diagnosis-related groups (IR-DGRs). The data is categorized into eight key health-planning units (KPUs) to highlight gaps across major service categories and assess whether these gaps have been resolved in a rapidly evolving healthcare system. Results: Between 2018 and 2022, there were clear improvements across several key planning units. The shortage of acute overnight beds was resolved, moving from a deficit of 239 beds to a surplus of 1728 beds, an overall gain of 1967 beds. Outpatient consultation rooms also saw major growth, shifting from a gap of 1769 rooms in 2018 to a surplus of 4707 rooms in 2022, a net increase to 6476 rooms. In addition, emergency department capacity increased, and the number of ICU beds also rose from 484 to 691, an overall growth of 43%. These changes represent measurable improvements in acute care and outpatient service capacity. However, despite the addition of 76 beds, long-term care continues to show a shortfall of 138 beds, indicating that this remains a significant gap in Dubai’s healthcare system. Conclusions: Dubai has made significant progress in expanding its healthcare infrastructure between 2018 and 2022, addressing many capacity shortfalls, particularly in critical care and outpatient services. However, challenges in non-acute and long-term care remain, requiring ongoing strategic planning to meet future healthcare needs.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the utilization of healthcare services in many parts of the world. The response to the healthcare burden imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with ensuring the provision of optimum healthcare services. This study aimed to estimate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on health services utilization and spending patterns in Dubai, the UAE. Methods: This cross-sectional study used secondary data on healthcare utilization and spending to compare between 2019 and 2020. The data was extracted from the health insurance claims on the eClaimLink platform. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to calculate the percent change of service utilization and spending and percentages of total claims by each encounter type across major diagnostic categories (MDCs). Results: In 2020, there was an overall reduction in outpatient visits and inpatient admissions of 27% and 21%, respectively, compared to 2019. Outpatient visits and prescriptions decreased across all the MDCs except mental and behavioral disorders, which showed an increase of 8% in outpatient visits and 29% in prescriptions. The admissions to the healthcare facilities were also reduced significantly across various MDCs, ranging from 10% to 44%. Similarly, a downward trend was seen in diagnostics for different MDCs. An increase in expenditure on diagnostics and drugs for neoplasm was reported, despite a corresponding decrease in outpatient and inpatient admissions for the same. Conclusion: A significant decrease in overall healthcare utilization and corresponding healthcare spending, resulting from a decline in outpatient and inpatient volume in healthcare facilities at all the levels (hospitals, clinics, speciality centres), was reported during the pandemic. The impact of the pandemic on mental health was reported by this study, as it showed an upward trend in utilization and spending. For the neoplasms, although the utilization declined, the expenditure on diagnostics and drugs during each encounter increased significantly.