His Highness' support has had a great effect on the qualitative change that the health sectors have achieved in the provision of health services and in coping with new international advances. State hospitals and health institutions have been equipped with the latest medical technology. His Highness' involvement in this field has been essentially based on a notable concern for the individual who embodies the real wealth of the homeland and represents the central focus of all the programs of development and progress.

     We will briefly shed light on the most important features of the health strategies. These include:
* Drawing up strict controls and specifications for establishing health facilities.
* Equipping these facilities with high-tech machines and apparatuses.
* Increasing the number of hospitals. For example, in 1995, the number of general and specialized hospitals was 36, 29 of which were government hospitals and 6 hospitals belonged to the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Health Services Department, and the oil companies.
* Increasing the number of Primary Health Care Centers. There are now 98 centers in both urban and rural areas throughout the country.
* This expansion has been accompanied by a remarkable increase in the capacity of health institutions, with the number of beds increasing from 700 when the Federation was founded to the current 4403.

     At this junction, we have to refer to the new medical centers for specialized services. In this respect, the hospital for the elderly and for the rehabilitation of the handicapped is a notable milestone. The capacity of this hospital at the time of its inauguration in 1993 was 120 beds, but has continued to expand. It contains the latest medical equipment and is undergoing further development. The prosthetics building has also been opened. In addition, there is the Psychiatry Hospital with a bed capacity of 150. Likewise, the Herbal Medicine Center has been developed and it now treats about 30 diseases such as diabetes, liver diseases, asthma, nasal allergies, common colds, hyper acidity, indigestion, urinary tract stones, non-bacterial infections, rheumatism, hemorrhoids, tension, high cholesterol, hypertension, prostate diseases, vitiligo, psoriasis, eczema, leprosy, and restoratives in general.

     Two hospitals for Children and Maternity were established as well as an emergency one with a total bed capacity of 610. We also find the complex of Consultancy clinics in Al Jazeira Hospital and a hospital in Ajman with a bed capacity 107, in addition to some more hospitals in Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain.

National Vaccination Program
     The national vaccination program has succeeded in warding off the hazards of many children diseases and in achieving remarkable vaccination rates, above 95%, in children and infants for polio, measles, and hepatitis in addition to using triple vaccine doses to immunize them. The results have been outstanding: both polio and connatal tetanus were eradicated from the State. The rate of measles cases dropped from 183.7 in every 100,000 citizens in 1985 to 23.2 by the year 1995. Tuberculosis dropped from 43.5 in every 100,000 citizens in 1983 to 13.1 by the year 1995.

     The implementation of the Law of Transmissible Diseases of 1981 played a significant role in organizing and controlling the program for fighting epidemic diseases. Nine specialized centers were established for this purpose throughout the medical districts and this has led to a notable drop in the incidence of these diseases. By the end of September 1994 more than 4.5 million laboratory tests had been conducted for this purpose.

     The Ministry of Health has given special importance to health education as an effective method for changing habitual modes of conduct and concepts which may adversely affect the health and safety of the individual and the society, and lead to the aggravation of health problems.

     In order to develop preventive and aid services in a more effective manner, the Ministry of Health incorporated in its future plans, the establishment of complexes that include all the sections providing such services. The Preventive Medicine Complex in Dubai was inaugurated in1993 and similar ones were inaugurated in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi in 1995 and 1996, respectively.

     It must be noted that the vertical expansion in medical institutions has made available many specialized medical services, such as open-heart surgery, organ transplant, methods to diagnose malignant tumors, and the like. All this has been accompanied by a great development in laboratory specialization, tests involving pathology and radiology, and blood banks, of which there are more than twenty countrywide.

     By the end of 1994, the first specialized center for MRI technology for diagnosis and the second specialized center for kidney and gall bladder lithotrity had been opened in the UAE.

Drug Control and Curtailment of Medical Treatment Abroad
     The Ministry of Health has put into practice certain measures and regulations to improve control of the handling, validity and side effects of drugs. One of its methods to do so is to determine the prices of drugs. The Pharmaceutical Services Authority supervises over 164 pharmacies, 30 government drug stores, in addition to 367 private pharmacies and 84 private drug stores.

     The Ministry has set up a program, since October 1992, to invite visiting medical consultants to the UAE to save the State the costs of sending patients abroad for medical treatment. By October 1994, the Ministry had invited more than 100 medical consultants.
The major developments in the field of health within the UAE under the leadership of H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan are highly commendable and are a source of pride for the UAE people.