The Duty to Report the Pandemic of Coronavirus and other Communicable Diseases

The Duty to Report the Pandemic of Coronavirus and other Communicable Diseases

The Duty to Report the Pandemic of Coronavirus and other Communicable Diseases

The situation does not seem like an ordinary disease that some people have been infected with, rather it is a pandemic disease that threatens the entire human existence and rises to bear the characterization of the pandemic, it is the Corona virus, the virus that – until the moments of writing this article – harvested lives of thousands and warns the rest of the same fate, the disease that the researchers have not found any vaccine or medicine for. Governments try to limit its spread, pending time and success of the efforts of scientific research in finding a drug. The process of limiting the spread of the virus consists of a set of measures such as preventing gatherings and appealing to residents for staying in their homes for 14 days, which is the incubation period for the virus in the human body, in addition to reporting any suspected case that carries the symptoms of this disease. The process of reporting suspicious cases is useful for the patient who diagnoses his condition early, leading to treatment before his condition becomes worse, as well as the benefit to the whole community by isolating the patient and preventing transmission of the virus is in the bodies of other people and thus limiting the spread of the virus. It must be noted here that the process of reporting suspicious cases is a legal obligation, as emphasized by the Federal Law No. 14 of 2014 for combating communicable diseases in the UAE, where the law has instructed the following categories on the process of reporting:

• The physicians in the government or private sector.
• The pharmacists and the pharmacy technicians in the government or private sector.
• The medical practitioners other than physicians and pharmacists in the government or private sector.
• The adult contacts with the patient.
• The direct supervisor in the workplace or study place of the patient or the person suspected of the infection.
• The captain of the ship, plane or public vehicle, if the patient or the person suspected of being infected is traveling on any of them.
• The director of the penal establishment, hotel, camp, or shelter, or any tourist or other gathering where the patient or suspect is present.
• The criminal investigator.

Reporting is performed in the event that any of the categories mentioned knows or suspects of the infection or death of any person by Coronavirus disease or any of the communicable diseases specified by law in an attached table, such as AIDS, bird flu, acute flaccid paralysis, anthrax, and botulism.

The Duties of the Ministry and the Health Authority:

The law requires the Ministry, the Health Authority, and the private health facilities, when detecting any infection with Corona-virus disease or any other communicable disease from the diseases mentioned in the table attached to the law, to inform the concerned department, provided that the reporting is immediate and within a maximum of 24 hours for the diseases listed in section A in the table referred to, and within a maximum of seven days for the diseases listed in Section B of the same table.

The Inspection:

The law has given the employees of the Ministry and the competent health authority who are determined by a decision issued by the Minister of Justice in agreement with the Minister and the head of the health authority the capacity of judicial officers to prove violations of the provisions of this law or the regulations and decisions issued for its implementation, within the scope of each of their competencies.

The Penalties for Non-Reporting:

The law has considered the process of reporting, upon knowledge or suspicion that any person has been infected or died of Corona virus disease or any of the communicable diseases that the law has specified in a table attached to it, as an obligation on the groups mentioned in the body of this article, and refraining from performing this duty results in the punishment for its committer with imprisonment and a fine not exceeding ten thousand AED, or one of these two penalties.

At the end of this article, we can only say that the process of reporting suspicious cases bears all benefit to the patient, as he can be helped and taken to the specialized health centers to receive the treatment, and there lies the benefit of his friends and relatives who have been in contact with him during the incubation period of the virus. This also assists the government, the health authorities and the society in encircling the virus and preventing it from spreading.

Mohamed Mahmoud Al Marzooqi law firm

Attorney / Mohamed Al Marzooqi
Mohamed Al Marzooqi advocates & Consultancy
Lawyer in Abu Dhabi, Dubai – UAE