Dubai: As many as 5,300 babies were born following fertility treatments carried out at the Dubai Fertility Centre since its inception in 1991, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) facility has announced.
The Centre has received more than 32,325 patients, of which 58 per cent are UAE nationals and 42 per cent are expats and medical tourists.
Over the past few years, the pregnancy success rate for the centre has consistently been above the international benchmark of 45 per cent.
These details were revealed along with the announcement about the Centre getting re-accredited with a ‘Diamond-level’ accreditation from Accreditation Canada International (ACI) for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and Leadership Standards. This is the highest level of recognition from Accreditation Canada, DHA said on Tuesday. It is awarded to “highly committed and quality-oriented” organisations that monitor outcomes, use evidence and best practices to improve services. The accreditation makes the centre the “first and only government centre in the world” to receive this accreditation for the second time in a row, added DHA.
It also stated that the accreditation reflects the distinguished services provided by the Dubai Fertility Centre that are in line with international standards and contributes to enhancing patient safety while providing the highest quality of assisted reproductive technologies.
Evaluation process
The evaluation focused on the extent of the centre’s commitment in applying the 484 standards distributed across the areas of leadership and technical criteria. The centre was able to achieve the highest score of 100 per cent in terms of its application of 112 leadership standards.
It achieved a score of 97.6 per cent for its application of 372 technical standards related to treatments, work procedures and aspects of the Embryology Laboratory.
Dr Ahmed bin Kalban, CEO of Specialised Healthcare Sector at the DHA, highlighted the importance of this accreditation, and its effective role in enhancing the competitiveness of the Dubai Fertility Centre as an “ideal destination” for patients living in the UAE and for medical tourists.
He said the centre is a leading specialised medical centre in the Arab Gulf region and the Middle East in the field of assisted reproductive technologies and it is one of the main centres in the country that provides the highest quality of fertility treatments.
High-level compliance
Hana Tahwara, director of the Dubai Fertility Centre, said the accreditation takes place once every three years and the centre obtained this certification by demonstrating above 98 per cent compliance rate for a period of three years. She said the accreditation is awarded after rigorous assessment and international benchmarking of all services including fertility labs, leadership, quality of work, procedures, workflows and outcomes.
