Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has opened the doors to a new world-class medical facility in Abu Dhabi for its 23,800 employees.
The complex includes an aviation clinic, employee visa medical centre, as well as an Emirates ID centre.
Speaking on the development, Etihad Airways’ Chief People and Performance Officer, Ray Gammell said, “As a global employer of choice, we pride ourselves on offering best-in-class services to our fast-growing workforce of Emiratis and expatriates. The new facility will allow us to further our development of well-being programmes aimed at looking after the health of our employees, while improving efficiency and productivity.”
He said that the new expanded aviation clinic was part of Etihad Airways’ strategic plan to consolidate its position as the foremost clinic of its kind in the region.
With about 30 medical experts including 10 fully-qualified doctors, six dedicated examination rooms, nine medical consultation rooms and the latest medical devices for staff assessment, the clinic promises to deliver the best healthcare to the airline’s employees.
The airline’s Vice President Medical Services, Dr Nadia Bastaki, said, “The new state-of-the-art aviation clinic demonstrates our enduring commitment to offer high standards of medical services to our people, including pilots and cabin crew. The clinic is regulated by Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) and the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), and is proudly recognised as one of the leading aero-medical facilities in the UAE.”
He stated that with this facility Etihad Airways’ employees and their dependents would also have access to an onsite medical facility to support the visa application process, adding that an agreement was signed in February 2015 with Ambulatory Healthcare Services – SEHA to operate the facility and provide visa medical services such as x-rays, blood tests and physical examinations.
Also speaking, the Acting Chief Executive Officer at Ambulatory Healthcare Services (AHS), Dr Mariam Buti Al Mazrouei, said, “One of our key strategic objectives at SEHA and AHS is improving access to healthcare services, and the opening of the Etihad Airways visa screening centre is an example of how this objective can be achieved through cooperation with strategic partners across different sectors in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The new centre brings the total number of Disease Prevention and Screening Centres, operated by AHS, to eleven, thus further cementing our position as the main provider of visa screening services in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.”
In addition to the medical facility, an onsite Emirates Identity Authority centre has been setup at the premises, offering nearly 200 members of staff the ease of having their Emirates ID services provisioned per day.
The location significantly reduces waiting times and processing times of Emirates ID for employees and their dependents in the UAE.
The airline stated that in the future there would be opportunities for Emiratis to develop a nursing career through a new initiative with Fatima College of Nursing, aimed at attracting Emirati nurses to develop their careers in the aviation sector.
The new facility follow the introduction last year of a staff ambulance service, travel clinic for those travelling for work purposes, several free fitness centres in Abu Dhabi, and a dedicated ‘Care by Etihad Airways’ welfare support service for the airline’s crew and pilots.