Day: January 26, 2022

DUBAI, The Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah is taking steps to further enhance its growing healthcare sector through the continuation of an alliance between Arabian Healthcare Group (AHG) and CommonSpirit Health, a leading United States (US) healthcare provider.

The collaboration, first announced in 2018, means that AHG’s flagship brand, the state-of-the-art RAK Hospital, is the only healthcare institution in the entire MENA region to align with Dignity Health International (DHI), CommonSpirit’s international health representative. The unique collaboration also heralds an expansion of RAK Hospital, which will triple its capacity to become a 200-bed facility by 2024.

The critical areas of collaboration with CommonSpirit, which operates 140 hospitals and more than 1,500 care sites across 21 US states, will include digital innovation, training and education, clinical alignment, care coordination, network expansion and improving the overall patient experience.

With an emphasis on cardiac services, orthopaedics, neurosciences, musculoskeletal conditions, and rehabilitation, the expansion is designed to allow regional patients to receive fully coordinated care with access to clinical expertise across DHI’s affiliated network of doctors.

Among the care centres widely recognised with clinical expertise in DHI’s US network are the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona; Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Centre in Houston, Texas, and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle, Washington.

Commenting on the new development, Dr. Raza Siddiqui, Executive Director of RAK Hospital and Arabian Healthcare Group CEO, said, “RAK Hospital was designed to be a destination hospital for local and international patients, with its specialised surgical capabilities and best-in-class facilities. Our scalable model allowed us to first win the trust and confidence of the local community and then gain immense popularity with regional and international patients. This natural progression has led to the creation of our unique relationship with CommonSpirit.”

Talking about the expansion, Dr. Siddiqui stated, “We are tripling our capacity to become a 200-bed facility by the end of 2024. This will enable us to cater to the increasing influx of medical tourists expected in the UAE and meet the increased demand for quality healthcare which will be created by implementing mandatory health insurance in the Northern Emirates in the coming years.”

Gregg Davis, CommonSpirit’s System Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for DHI stated, “This collaboration will align our physicians and nurses with providers from the AHG. It will enhance clinical capabilities available for patients within the MENA region, ultimately, impacting patient outcomes.”

DHI will support clinical education for the healthcare workforce in the region, which includes a spectrum of support for executive leadership, clinical and non-clinical training for physicians, nurses and other support services such as rehabilitation therapists and case managers.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, Emirates Health Services (EHS) has entered its third day of launching game-changing, hi-tech, and AI-powered health projects at Arab Health 2022, announcing three new launches under the ‘Innovative Treatment Services’ section of its programme at the exhibition.

The three new projects are: Cardio-technology Services, which uses the ‘vascular closure device’ for the first time in the Middle East; the virtual 3D maxillofacial surgery planning programme; and artificial-intelligence-powered voice identification technology.

They form part of EHS’s plans for the healthcare sector and align with its ambition to spearhead the transformation of the health welfare system, providing a new bundle of AI-powered and 3D virtual reality services. This, in turn, serves to boost the UAE’s leadership in the health sector and cement its position on the global health map.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Naqbi, Acting Executive Director of the Supportive Health Services Sector at Emirates Health Services (EHS), said: “Emirates Health Services’ growing dedication to projects that rely on artificial intelligence and advanced technology is part of our efforts to upgrade healthcare services, capitalising on the speed and accuracy of the diagnoses these technologies provide, all while ensuring high-standard healthcare, promoting medical research, ensuring rapid response to health crises and disease outbreaks, and advancing the overall healthcare scene.”

The ‘Heart Services Project’ is one of the leading technologies EHS has pioneered; it consists of an advanced and innovative technique whereby a pulsating device is implanted in the coronary sinus of the heart in order to reduce the impact of heart attacks and strengthen the heart muscle after an acute heart attack, which is the main cause of cardiac muscle failure.

Al Qassimi Hospital is the first healthcare provider in the country and the Middle East to use the ‘vascular closure device’ (Manata), to close openings and cavities after performing catheterisation surgery. The device uses a type of collagen to close open artery that was used to perform the catheterisation.

The second project – ‘Dental Services’ – relies on advanced technology to provide virtual 3D maxillofacial and dental surgical planning. It is considered one of the most efficient methods used around the world to plan cosmetic and complex surgical cases.

The programme uses accurate data to plan surgical procedures and effective design, and is the first programme of its kind in the world to have succeeded in planning and implementing virtual solutions for patients on a single platform. It also reduces the duration of operations compared to traditional surgical planning.

The third and final project, ‘AI-Powered Voice Identification Technology’, allows physicians and healthcare providers of all specialties to create, review, modify, and place clinical notes within digital health records using direct speech. The technology also contributes to standardising and accelerating clinical documentation processes.

Source: Emirates News Agency

DUBAI, The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has launched an AR-powered paperless drug packs project, by linking the entire drug information to an electronic source on the Internet. The new project aims to enhance access to drug-related information in an easy and innovative way, improve treatment outcomes and avoid medication errors.

The move would help cement the ministry’s competitiveness as a paperless digital health government entity and a sustainable model for developing services to ensure the happiness of customers.

The launch comes on the sidelines of the ministry’s participation in Arab Health, the largest exhibition of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region, taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre, 24th – 27th January.

“The project would help facilitate patients’ access to medicines to ensure their adherence to treatment plans. This is part of the UAE government’s directions to ensure their rights and provide all appropriate services to support their capabilities and integrate them into society and secure a decent life for them,” said Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Under-Secretary for the Health Regulation Sector, MoHAP.

Al Amiri highlighted the importance of the project in leveraging innovative technologies such as augmented reality and QR Code, which constitutes a development and support for innovation in the pharmaceutical field in the UAE and the region.

In cooperation with Ferring Pharmaceuticals, MoHAP is showcasing an innovative project of adding QR Code to the medicine package to enable patients to interactively read the drug information via AR technology.

The project aims to develop and apply modern technologies in the health sector and the pharmaceutical field, by linking the entire drug information to an electronic source on the Internet to provide complete data about the drug upon scanning the code, using smartphones, thus facilitating access to the drug information in an interactive way.

When reading the QR code through the use of artificial intelligence, an interactive service is obtained, where the virtual assistant appears in a three-dimensional form and provides the patient with all information about the drug class. This technology will be applied in the first half of the current year 2022 on the pharmaceutical packages produced by Ferring Company.

Source: Emirates News Agency