Ten percent of all smartphone users in the Middle East use health apps on their mobile devices, and this number is expected to triple by 2015, proving that healthcare is improving in the Arab Emirates, according to a press release at Middle East Events about the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress.
The Arab Health Exhibition and Congress was held this week to discuss “the role of remote care, monitoring, and technology in delivering healthcare services to the region,” according to the press release.
But the real gist of the conference centered around ways the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is working “to improve the quality of its health facilities and services for people in the Emirates,” the press release reports.
At the conference, the DHA announced six new health facility regulations and three new guidelines under its strategic plan for 2015, coordinating regulatory standards across Dubai to ensure the safety of healthcare services, including those provided at hospitals, outpatient, day surgical centers, diagnostic service, clinic laboratories and home healthcare.
The new regulations will close any gaps between the public and private hospitals to improve standards of care across the Emirate, DHA officials said, according to a story by Zaineb Al Hassani for The National.
“This year Arab Health has seen groundbreaking news unveiled and many partnerships formed, and we look forward to seeing the results and impact on the healthcare industry and the benefits these new initiatives bring to the healthcare patients and community,” said Simon Page, managing director – life sciences, Informa Exhibitions, organizers of Arab Health, in the press release.
“Arab Health is now the second largest healthcare congress in the world and this year we expect to see further growth in the number of delegates and exhibitors,” His Excellency Qadhi Saeed al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority, added in the press release. “At the DHA, we support and encourage such healthcare congresses as they bring together experts from across the world and provide a platform to exchange state-of-the-art information.”
His Excellency Qadhi Saeed al Murooshid, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority, said that this year, the DHA made a number of important announcements at the Arab Health, including “the future implementation of our regulatory policies for the health sector in the Emirate,” and the signing of “strategic memorandums of understanding (MoUs), including one with Etisalat and our Dubai Blood Donation Centre.”
He went on to say in the press release that the three-year contract will ensure that the Blood Donation Centre will be supported through donations and sustained awareness campaigns, while Etisalat will also encourage staff members to donate blood.
And indeed, in mid-January, senior officials and employees from the DHA “donated blood and pledged their solidarity toward the humanitarian cause at the blood donation drive which took place at its headquarters on Sunday,” according to gulfnews.com.
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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
