400 School Clinic Staff Trained by DHA in Special Needs Care

Dr Hamid Yahya Hussain, deputy director of Schools and Educational Institutions’ Health Services, told Gulf News: “The most common health issues of special needs children at school are divided into two main categories — mental disorders such as learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, severe neurological disorder and physical disabilities such as lower limb paralysis, blindness and other sensory deficits, and secondly, chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, asthma, thalassaemia and some hereditary disorders.

Children suffering from any of these require special care from nurses and physicians and their development needs to be monitored well,” Dr Hussain said. The workshop focused on equipping the staff with the wherewithal to deal with such situations, which are quite frequent at schools.

“The training aimed at upgrading skills and enhancing knowledge of health-care providers at clinics in private schools was part of developing school health services in Dubai in terms of quality and quantity and enabling health care givers to deliver the highest standards of care,” Dr Hussain said.

The scope of a health-care giver at school clinics extends to immunisation, first aid, rehabilitation, treating illnesses on a daily basis, emergency care, treating communicable and non-communicable diseases, conducting screenings such as for visual and hearing impairments, among other responsibilities.