The Ministry of Finance revealed that the UAE has increased the expenditures allocated to the Ministry of Health and Community Development, which was initially 7% of the federal budget for 2020, to cover the increase in spending on precautionary measures to combat the spread of the Corona epidemic and ensure a rapid response to the urgent needs of employees in the health care sector.
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Younis El Khoury said, "The federal government and local governments in the country have reduced operational costs in government agencies to provide financial space to increase spending on health care as well as reduce government revenue due to the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic spread, as the measures taken in this regard included rearranging Priorities of spending on ongoing construction projects, lingering in employment and reconsidering spending on non-urgent conferences and training.
These steps have resulted in the success of the UAE in dealing with the pandemic efficiently and with distinction, as the UAE is the first in the world in the number of examinations per person with more than 3.5 million examinations for early detection and isolation of injuries and providing the best health care needed for them and avoid complications of the disease.
Al-Khoury added, “The UAE has completed the restriction phase and is looking forward to the stage of economic recovery with the aim of compensating the expected losses in the second half of this year. We also expect the recovery to lead the wholesale and retail sector and financial services in addition to the positive contributions from real estate and shipping activities.”
Al-Khouri pointed out that "the measures taken by the state to combat the spread of the epidemic included providing continuous support to fully qualified and fully equipped medical teams, providing health insurance costs that cover the testing and treatment of the epidemic for insured and uninsured individuals, and establishing fully-equipped high-tech health facilities in Dubai with a capacity of 5,000 beds and Abu Dhabi with a total of 1,200 beds, the launch of a new large-scale laboratory to meet the need for examinations of Covid-19, the launch of a national program to cleanse and restrict movement of people within 24 hours, and the development of smart applications such as the "interactive health map" that includes data for 13 test centers In addition to hospitals, health care centers and clinics across the country. "