The UAE is making it easier to bring medics and frontline staff into the country during emergencies.
A new initiative aims to streamline procedures and cut red tape.
The Bin Wariqah Service is also intended to improve co-operation between departments and agencies.
Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, signed an agreement between his ministry and the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Health and Prevention, Department of Health Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Health Authority, state news agency Wam reported on Thursday.
Last year, the UAE brought in doctors from abroad to help battle the first wave of Covid-19 cases that put pressure on healthcare systems.
A flight carrying 105 medics from India landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport on a specially chartered Etihad flight in May, 2020.
They were enlisted by VPS Healthcare, the Indian embassy, the Department of Health, and the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.
In the past month, doctors wanting to return to the UAE from India have had to book seats on charter flights to navigate the flight ban that came into effect on April 24.
Doctors who are UAE residents spent up to Dh20,000 to get a seat on a charter jet from Delhi or Mumbai.
Only UAE citizens, diplomats, passengers on business planes and golden card visa holders are exempt from the ban.
Abu Dhabi's door-to-door testing drive – in pictures
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A team of medics, volunteers and police officers in central Abu Dhabi during a nighttime testing drive. Farha Sameer Baker, right, is head of operations at Tamouh Health Care. All photos by Victor Besa / The National -
Abu Dhabi's government has run door-to-door testing since May 2020. The intention is to identify and isolate cases and drive down community transmissions. -
Maram Herzallah conducts a test on a resident in the corridor outside her home. -
About 15,000 people a day are tested by the team across Abu Dhabi city and Al Ain. -
Medics work with the police given that they often have to close streets for periods of time. -
Nurse Maram Herzallah has her PPE gear checked by a colleague before starting her shift for the night. -
Screening staff are volunteers but most work in the emergency services or in hospitals by day. -
Staff must work diligently to process thousands of samples. People receive their results on the government's Al Hosn tracing app. -
Police work with medics to perform door-to-door testing on an Abu Dhabi street. -
The crew is 100 per cent mobile and carries all the equipment they need to test thousands of people each night. -
The nature of their work means changing their PPE gear frequently. -
Medics sort through Emirates IDs, which are needed to store data and deliver results. -
A group of residents are tested inside one of the crew's screening vans. Volunteers avoid going into people's homes as a precaution. -
Staff at a dry cleaners receive a nasal swab test. -
A police officer stores samples in a cool box until they can be processed. -
A shop worker is tested by a medic. -
The volunteers cover several areas of the city each week. -
Volunteers says they are proud to play their part in tackling the pandemic and driving down cases.
