To avoid misuse of sick leaves, Abu Dhabi to use new e-system

To avoid a misuse of sick leaves, the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haab) said it will start using on March 1 an “e-Leave System,” a report of the news site Gulf News said on Thursday.    Dr. Jamal Al Kaabi, Haab’s director of customer care and corporate communications, said the system "will increase efficiency and transparency among our three major stakeholders — the public, government entities, and physicians." The e-Sick Leave System has two categories:

• short term (less than 7 days, whether consecutive or otherwise), and
• long term (all types of sick leave reports issued for a period greater than seven consecutive days).

Click here to see how the e-sick leave system works. The new system simplifies the previous leave system where employees had to get their sick leaves stamped by the authority. Gulf News said the duration of a sick leave will correspond to the guidelines of an international evidence-based criteria reference guide. Mouza Al Mansouri, the committee's section head, told Gulf News, "The e-Sick Leave System utilises guidelines for disability duration set by the Reed Group, which provides the world's most comprehensive set of disability management and it is actively used by multinational organizations in more than 38 countries." 

Al Kaabi told Gulf News: "This allows us to track the amount of leaves issued by any health care professional to ensure that no misuse of sick leave takes place. If a practitioner is caught, disciplinary and even criminal procedures may be instigated."     

"Last year, we caught a doctor who issued 200 false sick leaves after receiving a tip off. After an investigation was conducted, appropriate measures were taken and the doctor was banned from practicing further," he explained.

On January 31, Gulf News reported about a General Practitioner who was arrested by an undercover policeman for providing false sick leave certificates for a Dh100 fee.

The general practitioner, an Arab, illegally retained the hospital's seal and stole blank sick leave certificates from a public hospital. The UAE is the second major destination of land based OFWs, with 201,214 overseas Filipino workers. - RJMD,VVP, GMA News