The case illuminates the success story of the UAE's Federal Government, Ministry of Health and Prevention, and Dubai Health Authority in handling COVID-19, which launched a comprehensive approach to assess business readiness across all critical functions and country locations through the lens of a global pandemic. The strategy reviews several areas: operational readiness, medical staff mobility, infrastructure resiliency, and information security. The case is a descriptive or observational study describing the series of occurrences concerning health disorders and aftermath activities in March and April of 2020. The author noticed the happenings in his fortnight quarantine stay and witnessed how efficiently, with significant efficacy, the entire medical and admin activities are planned and delivered to provide accurate and dedicated services to all COVID-19 patients. These activities mostly relate to leadership, crisis management, strategic initiatives, human resources, team building, customer experience, and positive psychology.
TopIntroduction
COVID-19 is triggered by a newly discovered coronavirus, first identified in a cluster with pneumonia symptoms in Wuhan city, Hubei province of China. COVID-19 is an emerging and rapidly evolving pandemic that negatively impacts the entire world, including the UAE. As of 01 February 2022, the United Arab Emirates confirmed 845,058 coronavirus cases, with 65,719 active and 777,096 recovered, with just 2,243 deaths (Department of Health, 2022). Coronaviruses (CoV) are a sizable family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic showed the interrelated kind of our globe –that no one is protected until everybody is secure. Only by behaving in harmony can people save lives and conquer the shocking socio-economic effects of the coronavirus. In association with the United Nations, people worldwide show acts of humanity, inspiring hope for a better future (United Nations, 2020). The World Health Organization (WHO) is working meticulously with international professionals, governments, and associates to develop systematic information on this new virus swiftly, track the spread and virulence of the virus, and provide advice to countries and individuals on measures to protect health and prevent the spread of this outbreak. Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without special treatment. However, age-old people with medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop severe illnesses. The COVID-19 virus extends primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when a contaminated person coughs or sneezes, so it is crucial that everyone also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, coughing into a flexed elbow). There are no certain vaccines or treatments for COVID-19 (World Health Organization, 2020) till December 2020. The UAE COVID-19 vaccination series started in December 2020 and used the AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm, and Sputnik V vaccines. The vaccine applied may vary in the seven Emirates (Foreign Travel Advice, 2022).
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the UAE’s Federal Government launched a comprehensive strategic approach with a wooing budget to provide backup to operational readiness, medical staff mobility, infrastructure resiliency, and information security to combat the global pandemic situation. Despite setbacks in different parts of the country related to providing consistent quality service, overall satisfaction levels are too high in the UAE compared to the developed world. Notably, these discontentment cases were primarily identified in one or two areas in the country only because of panic situations established in affected people's minds with psychological influence. In the prevailing severe epidemic situation, the health mechanism in the entire country, with the help of its frontline COVID-19 warriors, has been attempting to deliver the best possible service to save the lives of affected patients. In this situation, as a COVID-19-affected person, the author collected information about the delivery of health services based on his observation and personal interaction with different kinds of people like doctors, patients, recovered people, nursing, and laboratory staff. In the author's observation of widespread dissatisfaction among some affected people, the researcher attempted to know the implementation of various management, marketing, and human resources-related initiatives introduced by the health mechanism of the UAE to understand the reasons for dissatisfaction. The present case study offered an all-inclusive and meticulously planned series of activities primarily related to administration, strategic initiatives, marketing, and human resources introduced by the UAE to combat the COVID-19 crisis. The corresponding author completed the case with a co-author's support who inspires me in all walks of life with his alluring guidance and motivation and who triggered the idea to write this case.