Dubai
Hospitals can often be sombre places that grimly remind us of all that ails humankind.
But a newly-opened Al Jalila Children’s Speciality Hospital (AJCH) in Dubai is a bright, airy cheerful place splashed with colours to encourage every child who enter to feels he or she is entering a wonderland.
Adding a playful spin to health care, the hospital lets a child undergo treatment while allowing a free run to his creativity and imagination.
The Hospital that opened its outpatient services in August 2016 and its inpatient services in November 2016, is the first paediatric speciality hospital in the UAE and is aiming to be one of the finest in the region.
It caters to the health needs of children up to 18 years of age.
The hospital was created under the directive of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to affirm his strong belief that all children should have an equal opportunity for success in life, and the treatment of children suffering from illness or disease should not be the subject of geographical chance.
Gulf News was given an exclusive tour of the facility. The eye-catching slogan painted on the hospital walls ‘A place where I can be a child’ sums up the child-friendly philosophy of the place.
Al Jalila Children’s aims to retain the innocence of childhood and provide health care while working within the child’s imaginary and fun world.
Dr Mohammad Al Awadi |
Dr Mohammad Al Awadi, Chief Operating Officer of Al Jalila Children’s, told Gulf News: “We want the child to feel completely relaxed and enjoy the place and minimise his discomfort and fear.”
For example, the MRI room is designed like a seascape and a child may feel as if he or she is in a submarine launching into an ocean exploration adventure. Bright colours, amazing child friendly stations, play areas and plenty of sunlight stream into the hospital through its atrium.
Other playful decor include a luminous wallpaper, light screens with cartoon characters on the ceilings to pacify children in areas that may be daunting such as the MRI suite, X-ray and casting rooms; and window cleaners in super hero costumes like Spider Man, amongst others.
Centres of excellence
The hospital services are designed in a concentric manner around six Centres of Excellence. These include — Centres for Excellence for Heart, Child and Adolescents Mental Health, Kidney, Neurosciences, Critical Care, and ultimately the Cancer and Blood Disorders Centre.
Each centre comprises a team of dedicated doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals with many years of international paediatric health care experience and extraordinary track records in their respective specialties. These professionals are highly trained and competent in providing specialist care in some of the most complex cases, involving rare diseases and disorders.
Heart Centre of Excellence
The Heart Centre, headed by Dr Ahmad Al Kamali, consultant paediatric cardiologist, has some of the best state-of-the- art health resources in the world. The Centre provides services in cardiology and cardiac surgery, a paediatric cath lab and diagnostic and treatment services for patients referred with actual, or suspected heart diseases or congenital heart diseases.
Recently Dr Roberto Di Donato, the lead cardiac surgeon, conducted a complication reconstructive surgery on a five-day-old baby who had congenital condition where the aorta was abnormally narrow. Had the child been left with it, it could have led to heart failure in the long run, said Dr Di Donato.
The Heart Centre also conducted a number of surgeries as part of philanthropic missions to countries in Africa, the Indian sub-continent, Morocco and Mauritania since 2015 with a hundred percent outcome rate.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre of Excellence
Mental health is an issue which is often neglected by hospitals. However, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre team offers services in psychiatry, psychology, and social Work. Dr Ammar Al Banna, Head of the Centre told Gulf News: “It is the only speciality tertiary care provider in the region, with an integrated, multi-disciplinary team of highly qualified professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, mental health nurses and other specialists supporting children and adolescents with mental disorders, as well as their families, in every way possible.”
Kidney Centre of Excellence
The rate of congenital kidney diseases leading to failure of the organ are high in the region. There are several children undergoing dialysis in the UAE and the neighbouring countries, awaiting kidney transplants. The Kidney Centre at Al Jalila Children’s is one of the most sophisticated paediatric facilities in UAE for the treatment of children with kidney disease. The Kidney Centre offers competent diagnostic procedures and treatment for the entire range of acute and chronic renal function disorders in children. A spokesperson for the Centre said: “One of our special focuses is the treatment of children with chronic kidney failure — Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is an emerging non-communicable disease worldwide, also in Arab countries with a high prevalence of CKD risk factors, e.g. diabetes, obesity and hypertension.”
Neurosciences Centre of Excellence
The Neurosciences Centre of Excellence is a world-class diagnostic, treatment, educational and research facility that provides services in Neuro Medical, Neurorehab, Neuropsychiatry and Neurodevelopment. This Centre assists children with serious neurological disorders.
Critical Care Centre of Excellence
Premature babies require highly specialised care to save their lives. The Critical Care Centre at Al Jalila Children’s provides the top facilities for critically ill children and adolescents in the Middle East region and provides a wide range of services in state-of-the-art facilities and clinical expertise in specialised medical and nursing care. Al Jalila Children’s offers services in three critical care areas: Nicu (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), Picu (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit) and Cicu(Cardiac Intensive Care Unit).
Architecture
The design of the hospital is a strong point in bringing comfort to a sick child. The design includes large open spaces where children can participate and enjoy outdoor activities and several other child friendly elements. For instance, each patient room provides an interactive touch screen which enables patients to remain in contact with family and friends, play online games, access social media and educational portals when required.
Dr Al Awadi said: “Al Jalila Children’s is also equipped with numerous facilities that allow our patients to continue their education, such as a designated study area in every in-patient room and private teachers that are available to assist them in continuing their education directly from the hospital grounds.”
State-of-the-art technology, including multi-media and multi-sensory equipment are provided throughout the hospital. One of the outstanding structures right in the central atrium of the hospital is a media station in the shape and form of a giant ladybird that provides a fun venue for children to hold their birthday and other parties. “This not only provides a positive hospital experience, but psychosocial support for paediatric patients, promoting optimal cognitive, emotional, social and physical development for the patient, whilst enjoying their family support during hospitalisation,” said Dr Al Awadi.
The inpatient rooms provide a user adjustable LED lighting system, which creates a soothing ambience, helping patients to relax, supporting healthy sleep and recovery in comfort. The adjustable light improves working conditions for carers too.
Who can come for treatment to Al Jalila?
Al Jalila Children’s is open for all patients between the ages of 0 (newborns) to 18 years, and we receive referrals as well as walk-ins pointed out Dr Al Awadi. The hospital accepts many insurances. These include :
• Nextcare
•Enaya
•Al Madallah insurance
•Neuron
•Saadah
•Nas
It is little wonder then that the hospital which opened last year is serious about being the driving force behind tertiary paediatric care in the region and aims to be included in the top 10 children’s hospitals in the world.
