HOSPITALS Magazine issue 34

Issue 34 / 128 May / June 2017 www.tahmag.com

DRIVING CHANGE TO DEFEAT DIABETES

Mr. Mads Bo Larsen Corporate Vice President of Africa and Gulf at Novo Nordisk

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Publisher Arab Health Media Communication

CRITERION OF SUCCESS in medical strategies Technology and its uses in various fields occupy a large part of our daily lives, and relying on it is inevitable in all aspects of life. Of course, the health sector is not far from this revolution and no stranger to its developments. Technology, with its various tools, plays a vital role in healthcare. The medical sector is also witnessing rapid progress in terms of the development of devices and tools that assist physicians in their daily missions of diagnosis, surgeries and other daily medical tasks. But there are those who argue that it is necessary to distinguish between state-of-the-art medical tools based on modern technologies that help doctors and medical workers and artificial intelligence that has begun replacing humans in some medical procedures. These people ask to what extent do patients accept this transformation?

The findings are explored in PwC’s report, which is based on a commissioned survey of over 11,000 people from 12 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Across the region, more than half of respondents (55%) said they were willing to use advanced computer technology or robots with AI that can answer health questions, perform tests, make a diagnosis and recommend treatment.

The survey found that even in the operating theatre, respondents would be willing for a robot to perform a minor surgical procedure instead of a doctor, with close to half and up to 73% of all respondents willing. In the Middle East, willingness ranged from 50% for the UAE to 55% in Saudi and Qatar.

Hence, governments, companies and healthcare workers are invited to think in a completely different way about the ways and means of providing healthcare services to their citizens. Indeed, many of these are focusing their medical strategies for the coming decades on two issues: expanding more in the adoption of technology and moving forward towards the development of human competencies; that is the standard of success.

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32 54

52 10

36 66

46 74

NEWS

14 Pioneer in Minimally Invasive

“Hospital of the Future” Project

(Q&A: Hamad Medical Corporation / King Saud Medical City / Homecare)

COVER STORY

20 Sanofi and The Lebanese Society

8 Novo Nordisk 10 Interview with Mr. Mads Bo

66 Robotic Surgeries 70 Alzheimer’s Disease 74 How to maintain a healthy lifestyle

of Allergy & Immunology raise

Larsen, Corporate Vice President (CVP)

awareness of Chronic Urticaria

of Africa and Gulf at Novo Nordisk

84 Seeing is Believing 86 Heart disease in children

Heart Surgery Joins Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center

22 Al Noor Hospitals Group

13 Interview with Dr. Ayman

rebrands as Mediclinic in Abu Dhabi,

Hassan, UAE’s general manager at

22 King Abdullah Medical City in Jeddah Accredited as Training Center

26 LINET Group Making it easy, with

Novo Nordisk

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

AIDS Strategy Holds its 3rd Meeting

90 Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar 94 Hamad Medical Corporation 96 Qatar University college

in Riyadh

of medicine

the aid of lateral tilt

28 Technical Committee of Arab 32 American Hospital Dubai acquires high-tech 640 slice ct scanner

36 Almoosa Hospital Unveils the

FEATURES

54 eHealth

when travelling?

INTERVIEWS

38 Enrique Manzoni 46 Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil 52 Alsy Avecado 62 Alexander Artemiev

ARTICLES

72 Vitamin-D Deficiency 73 Al Ahli Hospital, to promote healthy diet to tackle high Obesity prevalence in Qatar

78 Global Healthcare and medical tourism future

82 Risk of Malaria 98 Robotics Epicenter Shifts from Japan to the United States in the Global Healthcare Industry MAY.JUNE 2017

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COVER STORY

Novo Nordisk’s leading position today was not out of thin air; it is the result of hard work that began in 1922 since its inception and still hasn’t stopped.

Modern and advanced treatments that changed the concept of diabetes around the world Novo Nordisk is one of the world’s leading companies in introducing innovative diabetes treatments.

Over the past few years, it has achieved several accomplishments that had a significant impact on regulating the rate of diabetes in many patients who have always suffered from high or low blood sugar levels. Novo Nordisk’s modern treatments, whether through insulin injections, tablets or others, have changed the management concepts of diabetes and the company came a long way in this field.

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It is the inexhaustible effort of the giant company’s leaders to provide all the new treatments in the field of diabetes. Despite the importance of the achievements made by the company in the framework of introducing drugs and insulin injections, which contributed to changing the face of medicine and its vision to diabetes through the possibility of controlling the disease, however, the ultimate goal is to reach a completely curable treatment. Today, Novo Nordisk is one of the oldest healthcare companies and is the world leader in the treatment of diabetes with insulin by injection or tablets.

Developments and innovations Novo Nordisk invested the experience of more than 5,900 employees in research and development, in addition

to investing more than $ 2 billion a year for the purpose of producing new medicines that help diabetes patients enjoy a normal life and improve the quality of their lives, while keeping their blood sugar levels stable as long as possible in addition to leading a healthy lifestyle.

Developments and innovations never stopped in the company, which ranked number two in “Science Careers Top Employers” survey and the “Most Innovative Pharmaceutical Company” in Europe by the survey participants.

Novo Nordisk is headquartered in Denmark but has a strong presence across the globe. The company has products marketed in more than 165 countries with affiliates and offices in 77 countries and more than 42,000 employees. The company has strategic production facilities in Brazil, China, Denmark, France and USA, in addition to production facilities in Algeria, Russia and Japan.

COVER STORY

Initiatives Community initiatives are at the core of Novo Nordisk’s work, believing in the importance of educating diabetics and spreading the culture of dealing with the disease to safely cope with it. “Cities Changing Diabetes” is one of the company’s initiatives that put managing diabetes on the main agenda of participating cities.

“Team Novo Nordisk” is a professional cycling team all of which are Type 1 diabetics proving that you can lead a normal life and exercise normally if you manage your diabetes properly.

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NEWS STORY COVER

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COVER STORY

Novo Nordisk A/S Denmark, a focused healthcare company and a world leader in diabetes care has recently announced the appointment of Mr. Mads Bo Larsen as Corporate Vice President (CVP) of Africa and Gulf.

Novo Nordisk has also expanded its presence and grew significantly in the UAE especially in the last couple of years. “Hospitals” magazine managed to get an exclusive interview with Mr. Larsen (CVP Africa and Gulf) and Dr. Ayman Hassan (UAE’s general manager) in the Novo Nordisk offices in Dubai Healthcare City around recent expansions.

The interview also addressed the focus areas of Novo Nordisk and the importance of managing diabetes and obesity in the Gulf.

So what is Novo Nordisk all about Mr. Larsen?

In Novo Nordisk, we are driving change to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic conditions. Diabetes poses one of today’s biggest global health challenges. We work for a future where fewer people get diabetes, everyone with diabetes is diagnosed, and everyone who is diagnosed receives adequate treatment and can live a life with as few limitations as possible.

Since the company was founded in Denmark more than 90 years ago, we have been changing diabetes. This heritage has given us experience and capabilities that also enable us to help people defeat other serious chronic conditions: haemophilia, growth disorders and obesity.

Can you give us some background on the conception of Novo Nordisk as a company?

In 1921, Canadians Charles Best and Frederick Banting became the first researchers in the world to produce an extract of insulin. The following year, August Krogh, a professor at the University of Copenhagen and Nobel Prize winner in physiology, and his wife Marie, a doctor who had type 2 diabetes, travelled to America where they heard reports of people with diabetes being treated with insulin.

The Krogh’s obtained permission to manufacture and sell insulin in Scandinavia.

In line with what you mentioned, Novo Nordisk is a leading research company, how much is it investing in Research and Development?

Novo Nordisk strives to discover, improve and expand treatment options for patients. It employs 5,900 employees in research and development and invests more than 2 billion USD per annum on research.

This allows us to introduce new advancements related to medicines and devices that help patients lead a good quality of life. In 2016, Novo Nordisk was ranked number two in “Science Careers Top Employers” survey and the “Most Innovative Pharmaceutical Company” in Europe by the survey participants.

You have recently entered into the field of Obesity Care, what are your main aims?

Even though obesity has been classified as a disease by the WHO, it is still not widely regarded as such. Novo Nordisk aims to ensure obesity is widely recognised as a chronic disease and that a clinically meaningful weight loss of 5–10% is acknowledged as a key contributor towards improving weight-related comorbidities (accompanying disease), such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Where does Novo Nordisk operate?

Novo Nordisk is headquartered in Denmark but has a strong presence across the globe. The company has products marketed in more than 165 countries with affiliates and offices in 77 countries and more than 42,000 employees. The company has 5 strategic production facilities in Brazil, China, Denmark, France and the US, in addition to production facilities in Algeria, Russia and Japan.

The company also has research and development facilities in Denmark, China, Bangalore and USA. Around 28 million Patients across the world use Novo Nordisk diabetes care products each year.

We heard a lot about Changing Diabetes® initiatives carried out by Novo Nordisk, what is it all about?

With our Changing Diabetes® commitment, we work to address the largest unmet needs for people with

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COVER STORY

diabetes by focusing on the risk factors, early diagnosis, access to care and helping people with diabetes achieve better health outcomes.

Under the Changing Diabetes® umbrella, Novo Nordisk is engaged in a number of key initiatives. “Cities Changing Diabetes” is an initiative that puts managing diabetes on the main agenda of participating cities.

“Team Novo Nordisk” is a professional cycling team all of which are Type 1 diabetics proving that you can lead a normal life if you manage your diabetes properly.

“Changing Diabetes® in Children” and “Changing Diabetes in Pregnancy” focus mainly on enhancing the wellbeing of the patients. Novo Nordisk also runs the “The World Diabetes Foundation” which is an independent trust created by Novo Nordisk in 2002

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to support the prevention and treatment of diabetes in the developing world. To date, the World Diabetes Foundation has provided 122 million US dollars in funding.

Novo Nordisk has been growing significantly in the UAE in the last couple of years can you share with us the reasons behind this?

First, I have to commend the business environment in the UAE and the Authorities have put a great effort in attracting global business into UAE through supportive laws and regulations which, as evident to everyone, has paid off significantly.

On the other hand, Novo Nordisk was the second most growing multinational pharmaceutical company in the UAE in 2017. This was primarily driven by the introduction of new medicines that added value to

the well-being of patients and addressed their unmet needs together with the strong local focus and investments under the leadership of Novo Nordisk UAE’s general manager Dr. Ayman Hassan, who has been the driver of this exceptional success in the UAE together with his talented team.

What would be your final message to the magazine’s readers?

Novo Nordisk will continue to work with different stakeholders in the region to increase awareness towards diabetes, obesity, haemophilia and growth hormone deficiency to enable early diagnosis and avoid or reduce complications. We will continue to provide and develop the best products to combat our focus disease areas to help improve the quality of life of people with diabetes and obesity.

COVER STORY

Keeping this in mind and in collaboration with the health authorities in the UAE, Novo Nordisk has focused on bringing the latest technologies and improvements in the management of diabetes and obesity to address the unmet needs in the UAE ahead of most of the other countries worldwide.

UAE was one of the first countries to have once daily GLP1 analogues which work different to insulin and it was the fifth worldwide to have a new long-acting insulin that has a better profile in controlling blood sugar and reduces possible low blood sugar levels at the same time.

UAE was also the first country in AAMEO (Africa, Asia, Middle East and Oceania) to introduce medicines that help patients lose weight thus addressing one of the main burdens in the Gulf region. Novo Nordisk is also working on introducing new devices, new medicines and longer acting medicines to improve the management of disease and enhance the quality of life of patients.

Dr. Hassan, can you share with us some of the activities in the UAE? Diabetes and obesity are considerable health challenges in Gulf with almost one fifth of the population being affected by diabetes and one third affected by obesity.

The Authorities in the Gulf countries in general and UAE in particular have ensured that the best and most advanced medicines to treat these diseases are available locally.

On the other end, we work closely with the Authorities in Abu Dhabi (Health Authority of Abu Dhabi), Dubai (Dubai Health Authority) and the Ministry of Health to raise awareness towards diabetes and obesity. Team Novo Nordisk the world’s first all-diabetes professional cycling team also participated in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tour races, with the mission to inspire, educate and empower everyone affected by diabetes.

Finally, we will continue to work with the Health Authorities in ensuring that the UAE is one of the first countries worldwide to have the latest medicines developed by Novo Nordisk available.

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NEWS

Pioneer in Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

Joins Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center

Joseph Lamelas

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n January, Joseph Lamelas, MD, an internationally recognized expert in minimally invasive heart surgery, joined Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, TX from Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Fla., where he served as the Chief of Cardiac Surgery for the past eight years.

With more than 26 years of experience, Dr. Lamelas has completed more than 14,000 cardiac surgical operations in his career, has played a significant role in advancing the field of minimally invasive cardiac surgery, as well as developed facilitating instruments. He has trained more than 700 physicians from around the world in this approach over the last 12 years. “As an internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Lamelas brings an extraordinary mix of experience and talent that will be a true benefit to our cardiovascular program at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and the community,” said Gay Nord, president at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. While Dr. Lamelas practices all facets of cardiac surgery,

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his main focus over the past 12 years has been minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Lamelas has developed techniques to facilitate minimally invasive approaches for repairing simple congenital cardiac defects, removal of cardiac tumors, aortic valve surgery, mitral valve surgery, double and triple valve surgery, as well as replacing the ascending aorta without splitting the sternum. “The procedures involve a small incision on the right side of the chest and do not involve opening the breast bone. Utilizing specialized equipment and instruments, access to and exposure of the heart chambers and valves are obtained,” said Lamelas.

Minimally invasive valve surgery allows for a shorter stay in the hospital as well as a quicker return to a full and normal level of activity. Most valve surgery patients are candidates for this procedure.

“I’m proud to be able to continue my career at an institution that was there when cardiac surgery began and now be a part of its history,” said Lamelas. “It will help me disseminate my knowledge and experience in cardiac surgery. In addition, I will have the opportunity to train the surgeons of the future in minimally invasive surgery and make this more of a reproducible and widely adopted technique that will benefit a larger population of patients.” In addition, Dr. Lamelas joined the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine as Associate Chief of Cardiac Surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. “Dr. Lamelas is a true pioneer in the field of minimally invasive valve surgery,” said Dr. Paul Klotman, President, CEO and Executive Dean at Baylor College of

Medicine. “He will be a great addition to our impressive cardiothoracic team.” Joseph Coselli, Vice-Chair of Surgery and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, added “The addition of Dr. Lamelas is an enormous asset to the department of surgery, Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston community. His minimally invasive approach offers patients an important option that allows them to return to their daily lives faster.”

Dr. Lamelas is board certified in thoracic surgery and a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. He also is a fellow in the American Board of Surgery, American College of Cardiology, American College of Chest Physicians, and American College of Surgeons. Lamelas has lectured both nationally and internationally and his work in the field of minimally invasive valve surgery has been extensively published.

For more information contact International Services at Baylor St Luke’s Medical Center Via email at international@stlukeshealth.org or call +1 832 355 3350 or visit StLukesInternational.org Texas Medical Center, Houston, Texas - USA

NEWS

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NEWS

Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar

med students visit Hamad Medical Corporation Heart Hospital curriculum, which was launched in September last year. The visit to Hamad Medical Corporation’s Heart Hospital now forms part of the Health, Illness and Disease course that WCM-Q students take in the second semester of the first year of the Medical Program. Working closely with HMC is crucial for providing WCM-Q students with world-class training to enable them to become the next generation of doctors serving the community of Qatar and beyond.

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irst-year medical students at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) reaped the benefits of the new curriculum’s emphasis on early introduction to physicianship skills when they visited HMC Heart Hospital to perform cardiac examinations on real patients.

WCM-Q’s innovative new curriculum has been designed to give students opportunities to interact with real patients under careful supervision almost from the beginning of their training, in contrast with traditional programs, which leave this to the latter stages.

A key element of providing early clinical experiences is WCM-Q’s strong collaborative relationship with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), where WCM-Q students take many of their clinical rotations, in which they spend time learning with experienced and gifted HMC physicians in many different hospital departments. This year’s cohort of first-year WCM-Q students are the first to experience the new

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During the one-day visit, 38 students worked in pairs to meet with a patient, take their medical history and then perform a clinical cardiac examination. This entailed taking the patient’s pulse, using the stethoscope to listen to their breathing and heartbeat, and then taking a blood pressure measurement. They then wrote up their notes and presented the case to a senior HMC cardiologist.

Dr. Liam Fernyhough, Assistant Professor of Medicine at WCM-Q, accompanied the students to the hospital to guide the learning experience and supervise the examinations.

He said: “One of the key strengths of the new curriculum is that it maximizes the amount of time the students have to develop core clinical skills and helps to make the material they have been learning in the classroom relevant and memorable. This not only makes for extremely effective learning experiences but also gives the students a great boost in morale. We are very grateful to HMC and the patients who have so generously accommodated our students to make this learning experience possible.” WCM-Q offers an integrated six-year Medical Program

consisting of a two-year Premedical Curriculum and a four-year Medical Curriculum. Students who successfully complete the program are awarded a fully US-accredited MD degree.

Student Toqa Afifi said: “This was the first time we had the chance to put our stethoscopes to good use and it was really an exciting moment for us to be able to apply in real life what we have learned in the classroom. We are very grateful to the patients for allowing us to examine them.”

HMC’s Associate Director of Medical Education, Dr. Maggie Allen said “HMC is delighted to offer WCM-Q students such important learning opportunities in their early clinical years.

The Heart Hospital preceptor team, led by Dr. Salma S. Ibnouf, worked hard to ensure a rewarding clinical experience for the students. This will be followed by a further three such Preceptorship visits within the medical wards of Hamad General Hospital in the coming months.”

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NEWS

OGT’s expanded NGS cancer panels enable sequencing of difficult genes

needed to create an NGS cancer panel that meets their exact requirements.

All the content is fully pre-optimised, removing the need for lengthy inhouse optimisation, reducing assay development time.

[Excellent uniformity of coverage of the CEBPA gene averaging ~3000x coverage. Depth of coverage per base (grey). Targeted region (green). Gene coding region (blue). GC percentage (red). Repeat regions and GC-rich regions (pink)]

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ew SureSeq myPanel™ NGS Custom Cancer Panel content covers a wider range of cancer types with excellent coverage uniformity for confident results.

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has expanded its SureSeq myPanel™ NGS Custom Cancer Panel content.

The expansion comes in response to NGS becoming ever more important for research into an increasing number of cancer types, and a need to obtain reliable data for difficult-to-sequence genes and mutations.

The expanded content now covers over 70 genes, with many more available in the near future, optimised for haematology and solid tumours including breast, colorectal, lung, ovarian and prostate cancer, glioma, melanoma, sarcoma, leukaemias, myeloproliferative neoplasms and myelodysplastic syndrome.

The strength of OGT’s hybridisation-based bait design coupled with its unique expertise delivers excellent whole gene coverage, unparalleled uniformity and the ability to sequence even the most difficult of regions.

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This yields reproducible and meaningful data, enabling researchers to be confident in sequencing results and analyses. Some of the most difficult cancer-associated genes to sequence are those that have high levels of GC-rich content, such as the tumour suppressor gene CEBPA in acute myeloid leukaemia, and TP53, which is frequently mutated in many cancer types including breast cancer.

In addition, genes that contain internal tandem duplications are challenging to target due to their repetitive nature and length. Panels available from other suppliers can experience problems with data variability, coverage drop-out or masked mutations in these regions.

In contrast, OGT’s innovative bait design uniquely overcomes these issues, delivering the high levels of uniform coverage required, and reducing the need for supplementary fill-in by Sanger sequencing.

This unique design allows researchers to detect low frequency variants consistently down to 1% VAF (variant allele frequency) at a read depth of >1000x. The panels are fully customisable—researchers can select the gene, exonic or intronic content

Dr Anna Skowronska, R&D Scientist at West Midlands Regional Genetics Laboratory, has been using the SureSeq Myeloid Panel content.

She commented: “We’ve found that the SureSeq Panel performs very well and has detected all known positives with an excellent variant detection of around 1%... we were positively surprised right from the very first analysis by the level of mutation detection achievable.”

OGT closely collaborates with leading experts and examines the current literature to provide the most up-todate targeting of all relevant regions.

This includes exonic, intronic and splice sites, and delivers comprehensive insight into disease-driving mutations.

Dave Cook, Senior Product Manager at OGT elaborated: “We’re continually working to expand our custom NGS panel content to ensure we have the most recent and relevant content.

Our coverage and reproducibility is unrivalled in the market and we wanted to expand the accessibility of quality NGS data to a wider range of cancer types—including genes and regions that are known to be difficult to sequence. We’re committed to helping customers reach their goals and we’re pleased to report that our expertise has enabled us to overcome these sequencing difficulties, giving them more confidence in the data they are generating”.

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NEWS

Sanofi and The Lebanese Society of Allergy & Immunology raise awareness of Chronic Urticaria during the world allergy week

and this year’s theme comes in line with the World Allergy Week 2017 (WAW) held in parallel in 97 national members societies. “The World Allergy Organization (WAO) during its annual WAW-2017 focused on raising awareness of chronic Urticaria- a frustrating illness.

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nder the theme “The Agony of Hives – What to do when welts and swelling do not go away”, Sanofi and the Lebanese Society of Allergy and Immunology organized a media briefing session to address Chronic Urticaria, shedding light on its triggers, symptoms and treatments.

Chronic Urticaria is defined as episodic or daily hives lasting for at least six weeks and impairing quality of life. Up to 1.8% of the population worldwide currently suffers from chronic Urticaria. More research on the global prevalence of the disease is needed. Lebanon is joining the global efforts

The itching interferes with concentration, daily activities, wellness, and sleep! The swelling can be disfiguring if it’s on the face, mainly the eyelids and lips, but also life threatening if it involves the respiratory organs (tongue and lungs)”, said Dr. Philip Rouadi, President, Lebanese Society of Allergy & Immunology, who emphasized on the fact that “there is definite hope for those who suffer from Chronic Urticaria to improve their quality of life, and the allergist/immunologist is vital in accomplishing this”. Complications of chronic Urticaria can include insomnia, depression and poorer quality of life [3]. Chronic Urticaria can affect internal organs such as the lungs, muscles, and gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include muscle soreness, shortness of breath, vomiting, and diarrhea. When symptoms don’t go away, patients lose hope as suffering can last several years.

Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd. strengthens its foray

into Immunoassay with the acquisition of Calbiotech Group of Companies, USA markets. It has more than 200 products, distributed to more than 60 countries. With this acquisition Transasia is all set to strengthen its foray into ELISA and CLIA assays for human and animal research, including specific assays for autoimmune disorders, cancer and infectious diseases. Over the years, Transasia has been meeting the needs of the emerging markets through innovative and cutting-edge technologies designed and developed at its global, state-of-the-art facilities.

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ransasia Bio-Medicals Ltd., India’s leading In-vitro diagnostic company, recently acquired Calbiotech Group of Companies, USA through its German subsidiary Erba Mannheim. This is the 14th overseas IVD acquisition by Transasia in the last eight years. Calbiotech based in Spring Valley, California is the first company to introduce immunoassay kits in the United States to detect antibodies against Zika virus in human blood. It is also known to develop innovative products for the emerging

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Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Suresh Vazirani, Chairman & Managing Director, Transasia-Erba Group said, “Calbiotech Inc. and Dr. Noori Barka have developed an excellent range of immunoassay products that will complement our growing range of diagnostic products. Globally the immunology segment of the IVD Industry is valued at around US$ 15 billion. Calbiotech’s expertise in Immunoassay will allow us to strengthen our position in this high growth market and integrate their strong R&D programme to further enhance the product development strategy of the Transasia- Erba Group.”

NEWS

new advert

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NEWS

Al Noor Hospitals Group rebrands as Mediclinic in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region

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ollowing the merger of Mediclinic International with Abu-Dhabi based Al Noor Hospitals Group (ANHG) in February 2016, it announced that all ANHG facilities will be rebranded under the Mediclinic name. Due to regulatory formalities, the complete rebranding of all units will take approximately one year to complete, however the necessary procedures for renaming all ANHG hospitals is complete and they will be rebranded as Mediclinic from April 3, 2017. The new hospital names are as follows:

healthcare services over the past 30 years, the entry of Mediclinic into the Abu Dhabi market ensures an exciting and positive future for private healthcare patients in the capital.

• “Al Noor Hospital – Airport Road Branch” changes to “Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital” • “Al Noor Hospital – Khalifa Street Branch” changes to “Mediclinic Al Noor Hospital” • “Al Noor Hospital – Al Ain Branch” changes to “Mediclinic Al Ain Hospital”

We can offer the security and peace of mind of an established global healthcare group, with a precise focus on the requirements and preferences of our patients in Abu Dhabi and across the UAE.

“Al Noor Hospital - Al Jowhara” changes to “Mediclinic Al Jowhara Hospital” Although Al Noor is a familiar name to many Abu Dhabi residents, and has loyally served them with high quality

Mediclinic assures patients - past, present and future – of its commitment to building on ANHG’s foundations of excellence and to delivering exceptional levels of international-standard healthcare to all customers in line with its vision, values and ethos: • Mediclinic’s vision is to be respected internationally and preferred locally.

• Mediclinic provides international-standard healthcare, with quality and patient safety at the heart of its operations. All original Mediclinic Middle East facilities are accredited by the Joint Commission International, as are the current Al Noor hospitals in

Abu Dhabi and Al Ain (except newly-opened Al Jowhara Hospital). All remaining facilities are working towards accreditation in the near future.

• Mediclinic is committed to the practice of transparent, ethical healthcare.

As a trusted partner of healthcare authorities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Mediclinic supports them in their efforts to drive down the cost of private medical insurance for all UAE residents, and does not condone the use of any form of over-prescription or over-servicing within any of its facilities.

• Mediclinic is dedicated to the longterm development of specialist healthcare services for the people of Abu Dhabi. With an overall value of more than $2.2 billion, Mediclinic’s merger with Al Noor is a clear indication of its commitment to the Abu Dhabi region.

Several redevelopment projects have already been instigated since the merger was finalised in February 2016.

Awareness of the rebranding will be announced to the general public with a large-scale print, radio and digital promotional campaign.

King Abdullah Medical City in Jeddah Accredited as Training Center

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eurology Department of King Abdullah Medical Complex in the north of Jeddah has obtained the accreditation of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS) as a training center, part of the Saudi Certificate of Competence, for a period of one year.

The accreditation was recommended by a committee comprising specialists

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from the SCHS, which visited the complex to inspect the applied standards, work mechanism, activities and training courses for the fellowship of neurology at all levels, in addition to provision of a number of the department’s fundamentals for accrediting it as a training center, and the efforts exerted by the management of the Complex for improving the medical services through training programs.

The committee praised the high level of equipment and full cooperation from both supervising doctors and assistant crew.

They also praised the training and educational environment provided by the complex, which placed it at the top of neurology training centers, and made it compatible with the required standards for obtaining the accreditation.

NEWS

When Hollywood met Neurosurgery

Special Effects Pros Help Create Lifelike 3D Simulator for Practicing Brain Surgery

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team of computer engineers and neurosurgeons, with an assist from Hollywood special effects experts, reports successful early tests of a novel, lifelike 3D simulator designed to teach surgeons to perform a delicate, minimally invasive brain operation.

A report on the simulator that guides trainees through an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) was published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics on April 25. The procedure uses endoscopes, which are small, computer-guided tubes and instruments, to treat certain forms of hydrocephalus, a condition marked by an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid and pressure on the brain. ETV is a minimally invasive procedure that short-circuits the fluid back into normal channels in the brain, eliminating the need for implantation of a shunt, a lifelong device with the associated complications of a foreign body.

“For surgeons, the ability to practice a procedure is essential for accurate and safe performance of the procedure. Surgical simulation is akin to a golfer taking a practice swing,” says Alan R. Cohen, M.D., professor of neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a senior author of the report. “With surgical simulation, we can practice the operation before performing it live.”

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While cadavers are the traditional choice for such surgical training, Cohen says they are scarce, expensive, nonreusable, and most importantly, unable to precisely simulate the experience of operating on the problem at hand, which Cohen says requires a special type of hand-eye coordination he dubs “Nintendo Neurosurgery.”

In an effort to create a more reliable, realistic and cost-effective way for surgeons to practice ETV, the research team worked with 3D printing and special effects professionals to create a lifelike, anatomically correct, fullsize head and brain with the touch and feel of human skull and brain tissue. The fusion of 3D printing and special effects resulted in a full-scale reproduction of a 14-year-old child’s head, modeled after a real patient with hydrocephalus, one of the most common problems seen in the field of pediatric neurosurgery.

Special features include an electronic pump to reproduce flowing cerebrospinal fluid and brain pulsations.

One version of the simulator is so realistic that it has facial features, hair, eyelashes and eyebrows. To test the model, Cohen and his team randomly paired four neurosurgery fellows and 13 medical residents to perform ETV on either the ultra-realistic simulator or a lower-resolution simulator, which had no hair, lashes or brows.

After completing the simulation, fellows and residents each rated the simulator using a five-point scale. On average, both the surgical fellows and the residents rated the simulator more highly (4.88 out of 5) on its effectiveness for ETV training than on its aesthetic features (4.69). The procedures performed by the trainees were also recorded and later watched and graded by two fully trained neurosurgeons in a way that they could not identify who the trainees were or at what stage they were in their training.

The neurosurgeons assessed the trainees’ performance using criteria such as “flow of operation,” “instrument handling” and “time and motion.”

Neurosurgeons consistently rated the fellows higher than residents on all criteria measured, which accurately reflected their advanced training and knowledge, and demonstrated the simulator’s ability to distinguish between novice and expert surgeons.

Cohen says that further tests are needed to determine whether the simulator will actually improve performance in the operating room. “With this unique assortment of investigators, we were able to develop a high-fidelity simulator for minimally invasive neurosurgery that is realistic, reliable, reusable and cost-effective.

The models can be designed to be patient-specific, enabling the surgeon to practice the operation before going into the operating room,” says Cohen.

Other authors on this paper include Roberta Rehder from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and Peter Weinstock, Sanjay P. Parbhu, Peter W. Forbes and Christopher Roussin from Boston Children’s Hospital.

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LINET Group

Making it easy, with the aid of lateral tilt

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Mr. Jiří Plecitý

ursing is one of the most valued and noble professions in the world. Not only do the nurses bear the sufferings and emotional demands of patients and families, the profession can also sometimes be very physically challenging for them. LINET Group, Europe’s premier manufacturer of healthcare beds and provider of hospital and nursing home solutions has always focused in improving the quality of health and nursing care with the use of smart technology. The company’s success is primarily based on innovations that significantly help to improve the quality of healthcare and nursing-care in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Earlier this year, the company launched the new Eleganza 5 to help improve the work of healthcare professionals such as nurses. This new product makes simple acts such as making the bed, changing the patient’s clothes or positioning the patient without strain much easier. One of the most striking features of this new product is the use of lateral tilt. The Eleganza 5 bed allows 15° lateral tilt to the left or the right which makes work easier and is more ergonomic. Lateral tilt not only

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helps in reducing the physical strain on nurses when handling a patient, it also eliminates the risk of occupational strain and physical disability.

It saves time required for routine nursing activities, makes prevention of pressure sores more effective and also helps in preventing complications in patients with lymphoedemas and facilitates post-operative drains.

Additionally, it also helps prevent some negative signs of the immobilisation syndrome and helps increase the quality of the life of long-term or permanently immobile patients.

“At Linet, our endeavour has constantly been to substantially increase patient quality of life and independence. At the same time, the company also lays great emphasis in providing exceptional assistance to nurses and caregivers, saving them time and energy.The physical exertion and exhaustion resulting for handling a patient are one of the main causes of health problems for nursing staff. For example: considerable energetic strain when performing daily procedures contributes to nurses’ exhaustion. However, changing a bed using the lateral tilt of the lateral hospital bed helps in reducing the energetic strain. According to an internal clinical study by the company, lateral tilt works and helps reduce the energy exertion of changing bedding on

hospital beds by an average of 30%.

A similar saving in energy can be expected for other nursing activities associated with the need to turn the patient on his side”said Mr. JiříPlecitý, Managing Director LINET Middle East and Africa. Lateral tilt of lateral beds also has a positive effect in reducing the pressure load on tissues. The basic feature of preventing pressure sores in immobile patients and patients in institutional care is their regular positioning. However, the manual positioning of an immobile patient poses a risk of occupational injury for the nurse and is often performed with inadequate frequency. Based on the company’s internal clinical study, lateral tilt significantly reduces the pressure load on tissue which is the primary cause of pressure sores.

The lateral tilt of the Eleganza 5 also works in perfect combination with the foot control allowing the nurse to control the tilt with a foot and both hands are free to work with the patient. The new technology concealed in the bed columns ensures the bed moves completely smoothly and the care is sensitive and considerate. Since the bed allows for the easy handling of the patient nurses can reposition the patient more frequently with less effort resulting in the prevention of pressure ulcers.

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Technical Committee of Arab AIDS Strategy Holds its 3 Meeting in Riyadh rd

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he third meeting of the Technical Committee for the Arab AIDS Strategy was held in Riyadh under the umbrella of the Arab League and with the participation of government representatives and government experts from a number of Arab countries, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS) and the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.

The meeting aims to discuss the challenges, opportunities and obstacles currently facing the region and how to find joint and cooperative solutions that ensure the region will achieve the vision of the Arab strategy for combating AIDS 2014-2020 in order to accelerate the response and eradicate AIDS in Arab countries.

The meeting reviewed the progress made in the Arab strategy for combating AIDS, in addition to developing recommendations to scale up implementation of the strategy at national and regional levels and setting up approaches for challenges associated with application of interventions to prevent spread of AIDS, as well as exchanging experiences, knowledge and lessons learned among Arab countries on combatting AIDS, developing a vision to strengthen epidemiological and statistical mechanisms that are applicable in the Arab countries to have a potential assessment for people living with HIV and means of measuring coefficient of variation in the Arab countries.

It is noteworthy that the HIV infection is one of the health challenges in the Arab region, as it is estimated that the

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number of new incidences and AIDS-related deaths have increased significantly in the last decade, and studies suggest that there are emerging epidemics among the most vulnerable populations in many countries and throughout the region.

Limited strategic information on the HIV situation, high level of stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and limited financial and technical resources are key factors hindering an effective HIV response.

In this context, it is essential to increase the effectiveness of epidemic surveillance to generate more strategic information and to ensure prevention activities are strengthened and developing strong and multi-sectoral response. Also, it is be noted that the vision and objectives of the Arab strategy for combating AIDS is to achieve an AIDS-free generation in the Arab world with zero new infections, zero AIDS-related deaths and zero stigma and discrimination.

The strategic objectives of the meeting include reducing the HIV incidence rate through sexual transmission by 50% by 2020, reducing the HIV incidence rate among those who inject drugs by 50% by 2020, eliminating new infections among children and substantially reducing AIDS-related maternal deaths, ensuring access to antiretroviral therapy in the region by 2020, reducing the mortality rate among people living with HIV from tuberculosis (TB) by 50% by 2020, closing the gap of AIDS special resources and increasing national investment in AIDS by 100% by 2020 in all Arab countries.

MOH Launches

First Health Initiative of National Transformation Program 2020

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s part of the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020 and in the presence of His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will launch, its first initiative titled “Health Care Model�. It comes within a series of initiatives to be launched later and aims at developing and implementing new approach to provide the healthcare that ensures maintaining health, not only treating the disease so that the role of individual, society and its institutions is integrated with the role of service provides in order to ensure access to health care in accordance with the best health practices.

As part of the expected outcomes of the model, the MOH is aspiring to provide high quality and comprehensive healthcare in short time and enabling individual and society to take care of health through different programs and initiatives that raise their awareness and help them to understand and follow the best ways and methods to make them able to have better health. It is worth mentioning that the NTP in the health sector aims to create an added value in the MOH by improving health outcomes, getting health services and means of providing healthcare to patients as well as providing integrated healthcare up to the highest international standards. The NTP 2020 is the first step towards realization of the Kingdom Vision 2030 which is reckoned an approach and map for economic and development process in the Kingdom, while developing general tendencies and policies and its special targets and commitments in order to become a pioneering model at all levels.

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Ministry of Health & Prevention

signs MOU with American University of Beirut about vocational training

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he Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American University of Beirut as part of its partnership with international academic institutions to share and exchange experiences in the field of vocational training for the health sector.

The agreement, which is renewable for another year, was signed at the Ministry’s office in Dubai by H.E.

Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi, Assistant Undersecretary for Support Services of MOHAP, and Professor Hassan Diab, Vice President of the American University of Beirut (AUB), in the presence of Saqr Al Hemeiri, Director of Training and Development Center, MOHAP. H.E. Al Ketbi said that the agreement is part of MOHAP’s efforts to strengthen its cooperation programme with international academic institutions in developing and modernizing vocational training for medical and technical staff, improve

efficiency and adopt best practices.

It also aims to expand the Ministry’s local and global partnership strategy through shared experiences and thereby enhance health services, a mission embodied in the National Agenda to deliver innovative and sustainable healthcare. Under the MoU, MOHAP and AUB will set up a joint working committee which will meet periodically to monitor the progress of the agreement and accordingly recommend the next steps to concerned parties. The scope of the MoU includes exchange of expertise in training and other health training specialization of the university. Professor Diab commented: “Establishing a cooperative relationship in the field of vocational training with the UAE Ministry of Health & Prevention and governmental and private sectors, are a great opportunity to share our experiences and continue to bridge the academe in the field of healthcare, education and training.”

... And organizes 6th National Pharmacovigilance Conference and Drug safety

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he Ministry of Health and Prevention, represented by the Public Health Policy and Licensing Sector and the Drug Department, organized at the Raffles Hotel in Dubai the 6th National Conference of Continuum of Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety in the UAE being held under the patronage of H.E. Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention and in cooperation with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association.

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H.E. Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Policy and Licenses and Chairman of the Higher Committee for Pharmacovigilance, noted the rising global awareness of pharmacovigilance in light of the growing safety concerns affecting the health sector such as self-medication practices, globalization, consumerism, and the expansion in free trade and communication across borders. Other issues include illegal medicine sale over the internet, drug abuse, widespread manufacture and sale of counterfeit and substandard medicines globally, increasing use of traditional and herbal medicines with potential adverse effect.

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American Hospital Dubai

acquires high-tech 640 slice ct scanner

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he American Hospital Dubai has announced that it recently acquired the industry-leading and stateof-the-art computerized tomography (CT) scanner with reduced radiation dose requirements, setting a new record as the first hospital in the entire Middle East region to own the ground-breaking medical equipment.

In a landmark move, the hospital purchased the Toshiba Aquilion One Genesis 640-slice CT scanner, the world’s first dynamic volume area detector CT system, to add to its list of cutting-edge health equipment. The CT scanner offers 320 detector rows (640 slices) capable of capturing clear images of the entire organs such as the heart and the brain in a single 0.35-second rotation. It also features an advanced image reconstruction technique that results in reduced radiation dose of up to 84.6 per cent. The acquisition forms part of the hospital’s strategic approach to deliver better health and deepen the levels of expertise and care it offers in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East supported by advanced medical infrastructure and one-of-a-kind health facilities.

Peter Makowski, CEO, American Hospital Dubai, said: “The American Hospital Dubai’s commitment is to offer effective MAY.JUNE 2017

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health solutions to our patients to help them live a full life.

This entails constant upgrading of our health offerings alongside enhanced competencies of our medical staff. Additionally, improving our facilities in keeping with the standards of the global healthcare industry is as crucial in our drive to deliver effective holistic healthcare services. The intelligent Aquilion One Genesis technology complements our objective to ensure patient safety and deliver superior patient care, both of which are part of the efforts of Dubai, the UAE, and the rest of the region to continuously enhance their respective healthcare systems.”

The Genesis edition is powered by FIRST, the world’s first volumetric Model Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBIR) that is fully integrated into scan protocols. Able to reconstruct a volume scan in just a few minutes, FIRST can be applied in clinical workflows, transforming CT image quality with improved spatial resolution at less dose. The Genesis edition has been designed with a unique flared gantry, providing a wide-open space for better patient experience in addition to excellent image quality with low radiation and contrast dose tailored to each and every patient.

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QU-CPH students

win First Place at 7th Pharmaceutical Care Conference

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atar University College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) students won First Place for their poster presentation at the 7th Pharmaceutical Care Conference, which was recently held in Oman. 4th-year Pharmacy students Farah Zahrah, Sara Abdulrahim and Nour Isleem presented a poster entitled “Physical comorbidities and their management in patients with severe mental illness”. The students were supervised by Dr Monica Zollezi, CPH Assistant Professor of Pharmacy and Director of the Structured Practical Experiences in Pharmacy (SPEP) program. The students presented their poster in front of a panel of judges comprising industry experts and international guest speakers - President of the European Association of

Hospital Pharmacists Joan Peppard, President of the International Pharmaceutical Federation Carmen Pena Lopez, and American Council for Pharmacy Education Executive Director Michael Rouse. Commenting on the students’ achievement, CPH Dean Dr Mohammad Diab said: “We take pride in providing our students with a rich and varied learning experience. Our students are well equipped with the right tools and resources, and under strong mentorship of our faculty, they excel as students and as future graduates conducting research in the workplace, an important initiative of Qatar’s National Health Strategy.”

CPH Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Alla El-Awaisi congratulated the winning students and said: “Our students excel in national and international venues and have done extremely well scooping top prize awards. This is a strong testament of the extremely high caliber of our students who are enrolled in our program both at undergraduate and postgraduate level and our capable faculty supervising these students.” Dr Monica Zolezzi

said: “The 7th Pharmaceutical Care Conference in Oman was the perfect opportunity to showcase the quality research undertaken at our college.

Indeed a great recognition to the students’ work over the past year.”

Sara Abdulrahim said: “Attending the 7th Pharmaceutical Care Conference in Oman was such a successful experience that allowed us as undergraduate students to share our achievements and gain great experience from other delegates as well. Being extremely organized and passionate about our research was the main reason for judges and audience to admire our hard work especially that we focused on physical comorbidities in psychiatric patients, an area that is usually underrepresented in the Arab world. Our research has some very interesting findings that will hopefully attract health care professional attention towards caring for psychiatric patients with physical comorbidities more efficiently. Winning the first place in poster presentation was such a big achievement for us as students as well as for the College of Pharmacy.”

NMC Healthcare

Recognized as one of the Top Companies to Work For in UAE by Great Place to Work Institute

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e are elated to inform that NMC Healthcare has been recognized as one of the Top Companies to Work For in UAE by Great Place to Work Institute. The remarkable achievement is further accentuated by the fact that NMC is the first healthcare services company in the UAE to be recognized as a Great Place to Work. The awards were presented by Ms. Maha Zaatari, Managing Director-Great Place to Work Institute and MAY.JUNE 2017

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on behalf of NMC the award was received by Mr. Ravi Rai, VP- HR and Personnel. The awards are a coveted recognition by the Great Place to Work Institute, a global research, training and consultancy firm that identifies the best workplaces in over 50 countries worldwide. The official list, which was announced during an awards ceremony on 7 March 2017 in Dubai, is a ranking of the nation’s 24 best employers based on the confidential feedback of employees and an audit

of management policies and practices. Each entry is judged according to performance in eight key areas: Leadership, wellbeing, giving something back, personal growth, fair deal and how members of staff feel towards their manager, company and team.

We take this opportunity to heartily congratulate and thank the entire staff of NMC Healthcare who are our most valuable asset and who have been the backbone in the growth and success of the organization.

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Almoosa Hospital

Unveils the “Hospital of the Future” Project

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r. Malek Almoosa the CEO of Almoosa Specialist Hospital, revealed during the ceremony of the year-end report the design of the new medical tower which consisted of 16 stories.

The new hospital will be an example of “Hospital of the Future” with all of advanced technologies and latest design recommendation is integrated in this building in order to give patient and the caregivers the best experience possible. Our new hospital will be home for complex specialty care with a focus on Cancer center - neuroscience center - heart center - orthopedic and joint replacement center and advanced surgery. These services will fill a gap in healthcare services in the region and will shorten a lot of distances for patients. The new tower is designed while putting patient needs first with many healing environment elements providing spacious lobby and impressive atrium as well as green roofs for both patient and visitor and caregivers. The patient will not need to travel for long distance as all of the related diagnostic facility is within close proximity to the exam rooms, as well as natural light in all of the patient rooms for better patient

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experience . A 500-car park in the basement with 3 express elevators to transport patient as quickly as possible and a 12 elevators separate in two elevators bank, 6 elevators for patient and visitors and another 6 for services and patients’ transport . It is worth mentioning that the 65 thousands square meter building will be the largest building in Almoosa hospital campus and with 100-meter height will be the tallest hospital building in Saudi Arabia and the tallest building in city of Alahsa .

The new hospital will add 220 single bedrooms including 44 Critical care beds and 16 bed cardiac ICU and reference lab as well as 10 operating room with interventional capabilities and hybrid operating rooms and 30 outpatient clinics and exam room, and a state-of-the-art central sterilization unit. As for the exterior design of the building, it will be an architectural masterpiece” leaf shape” which is inspired from Almoosa Hospital Identity and it will be covered with tiered glass and inlaid with marble and luxury terracotta stone. The building is designed with LEED requirement for energy efficiency.. The building has a unique features spaces like the innovation center and fine dining restaurant with 200 seats

capacity with impressive terrace overlooking the oasis of Alahsa. In our endeavor to achieve the future vision of the hospital and our aspirations to become an advanced educational and training center, the simulation lab will provide real life situation to train healthcare workers and an auditorium with 300 seats.

The services area will offer the best experience possible in the building for patient, visitors, and caregivers, where it will contain a retail pharmacy, gift shop as well as a coffee shop. In order to facilitate the medical evacuation in the hospital and transporting patients in emergency cases, a helipad has been designed to be in the surface of the tower to rapidly transport patients in or out of the hospital to ensure the ease and pleased operations in the hospital and effective communication, it will provide with digital capabilities for patient connectivity and smart panel to control the systems in the rooms and full electronic medical record. It is noteworthy that the new medical tower has designed by HKS, Inc. the American international architecture that specialized in designing the healthcare buildings and world-class hotels. The new tower with its unique design will be truly a hospital for the next century .

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H.O: Sami el Solh Av. - Ghorayeb Bldg l T: +961 1 389067 l F: + 961 1 389379 P.O.Box: 166 - 116 AshraďŹ eh, Beirut 1100 - 2100 Lebanon l marketing@victoire.com.lb

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INTERVIEW

Enrique Manzoni Regional Managing Director Boehringer Ingelheim - Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META)

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INTERVIEW

Boehringer Ingelheim, a global pharmaceutical company and one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, achieved in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2016 a 16% growth in sales.

Strong performing markets included Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Lebanon, and Kuwait as per Enrique Manzoni – Regional Managing Director in Boehringer Ingelheim Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) through an exclusive interview for ‘Hospitals’ magazine.

You have more than four decades of strategic corporate experience, can you tell us more about your career?

I have been in the field for almost 40 years and with Boehringer Ingelheim for more than 28 years, working across a number of leadership functions while also running various investment portfolios with the underlying aim developing successful operating business models.

I first joined the company’s office in Argentina before moving to the company’s headquarters in Ingelheim, Germany in 1992.

At that time, I was responsible for providing global controlling support for the pharmaceutical production business, covering over 20 plants worldwide. Following that, my responsibilities were further expanded to manage the full range of finance and administration activities in Greece then Italy. Prior to joining the region, I had the responsibility of managing the company’s regional business volume of €700 million in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden, based in Amsterdam, and included 1600 employees and four manufacturing facilities.

Specifically, in the META region, I am the Regional Managing Director for Boehringer Ingelheim Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META). My role is to help drive the company’s growth and partnership initiatives across various business areas for human pharma and animal health.

You were appointed Boehringer Ingelheim’s new Regional Managing Director to lead the META region in October 2016. Tell us about your overall view vis-à-vis the region?

The healthcare industry in the region is rapidly changing, and has witnessed

a number of important challenges, which include fast growing a number of important challenges, which include fast growing populations, to the increase in obesity and the rise of chronic illnesses.

As such, the underlying element remains to develop an innovative healthcare approach that delivers more value not just to caregivers, but to patients’ wellbeing. Generally we believe, that the regional pharmaceutical market and the healthcare sector at large in the region continue to show impressive growth numbers.

The pharmaceutical market in the META region has witnessed considerable progress over the years due to favourable demographic and economic factors, and increased government expenditure for healthcare. At the same time, regional governments are working towards developing a robust infrastructure and implementing policies to address healthcare concerns towards a better health for their nations, whilst also driving more access to innovative medicines.

We are well positioned to accommodate the growth in the region and develop better solutions for healthcare providers and patients in need. To that extent, Boehringer Ingelheim in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2016 achieved a 16% growth in sales.

Strong performing markets included Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Lebanon, and Kuwait.

The healthcare and pharma sectors are still in the growth phase in the Middle East, how do you plan on being a solid partner in this evolution?

We remain committed to maintaining

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is a fast developing center of worldclass healthcare facilities, backed by progressive reforms and integrated systems of care, ensuring a business environment for the world’s best brands to grow and establish themselves. In Saudi Arabia, the provision of healthcare is dominated by public-sector providers, primarily the Ministry of Health (MOH).

a strong growth trajectory in the region by introducing innovative initiatives that cater to serving patients and achieving better treatment outcomes across different therapeutic areas. The aim is to become the preferred partner of healthcare systems across the region, by offering a comprehensive range of solutions that address urgent patient needs, as well as those of healthcare providers and payers. At Boehringer Ingelheim, we are passionate about the discovery and development of innovative medicines. We seek to provide a broad range of new therapies as well as practical solutions to advance the care of patients in the region. This means that we go beyond simply delivering medicines, to expanding access to them in a part of the world that presents numerous challenges.

Governments in the region play major role in the development of the healthcare sector. How do you evaluate their efforts?

Over the past few years, regional governments have improved the quality of their healthcare systems and their citizens’ access to care. For example, the UAE, in particular,

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The government plays a central role in providing healthcare services, accounting for about 75% of the total healthcare spending in the country.

Moreover, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority plays a key role in ensuring safety, quality, efficacy and accessibility of human, veterinary drugs and biological products, through administration of a national regulatory system which is consistent with international best practice. In addition, we believe that the further deepening of GCC market integration and the introduction of integrated healthcare insurance systems will boost pharmaceutical trade in the long run.

However, there are still challenges that need to be looked at – ones which need to be designed primarily to best fit the local context, while addressing cost increases, demographic realities, disease burdens, technological advances, as well as socio-economic changes.

Chronic diseases are a significant factor. This region is in the top ten for the prevalence of illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

If there is a failure to act against the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, financial burdens will continue to rise. Healthcare systems must shift toward primary care and public health education using a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach focused on prevention and wellness.

The MENA region and UAE in particular, is a fast developing center in healthcare facilities. Do you have any specific plan for achieving your goals and expanding the company’s reach?

Regional governments have announced their ambitions and overall plans to revamp and drive better healthcare infrastructures.

In particular, the UAE’s 2021 vision emphasizes the importance of preventive medicine and seeks to reduce cancer and lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases to ensure a longer, healthy life. In addition, the country’s national agenda aims to reduce the prevalence of smoking and increase the healthcare system’s readiness to deal with epidemics and health risks. Boehringer Ingelheim works with governments to help achieve their objectives.

At Boehringer Ingelheim, we are passionate about the discovery and development of innovative methods to support patients’ clinical outcomes across a number of disease areas that are a priority for the region. The aim is to develop better treatment options for these patients.

For example, in the field of oncology, our efforts are to continuously improve cancer care, offer more and better therapy options, and help ensure access for patients who need our therapies.

We work with regional authorities to encourage and drive early detection of cancer through disease awareness and timely diagnosis initiatives to clinical research with an underlying objective to ensuring patients across the region to access needed targeted medicines that deliver real outcomes for people living with cancer.

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Not to mention that the region also has a unique cardiovascular disease risk portfolio. Our work revolves around addressing unmet medical needs by providing innovative treatments that improve the care of patients suffering from a range of cardiovascular conditions including irregular heartbeats (atrial fibrillation), stroke, and blood clots.

We are continually building on our commitment to supporting patients and their families as well as providing the tools and training to support healthcare professionals.

Where does Boehringer Ingelheim stand today in the region, and where do you see it few years from now?

Boehringer Ingelheim has a longstanding commitment across the region. We are committed to acting as a responsible partner to healthcare providers across the region – delivering solutions and supporting expertise where it is most needed for the benefit of patients, physicians and healthcare systems.

The central approach is placed on three major pillars – understanding the local business/financial dynamics to continue delivering on our commitment, enhancing our overall offering and continuing our collaboration with government stakeholders to expand access to our therapies for the people who need them with innovative means, and driving robust educational programs that cater to unmet medical needs in the communities we operate from throughout the region.

Another important aspect is that we want to go beyond the pill, permanently looking for nonconventional therapies and services, especially focused on territories with high unmet needs.

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INTERVIEW

Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil

Chairman and Managing Director, VPS Healthcare VPS Healthcare is considered one of the top healthcare institutions with a wide range of experience in healthcare in the MEA. You have successfully led the group from a single hospital in 2007 to a wide chain of healthcare services.

What was the key behind the success story of VPS? What is your vision and the mission statement that led you throughout this journey? What about the strategic plan that led to this impressive growth?

VPS Healthcare is committed to providing high-quality healthcare that is accessible, affordable, and sustainable. I am very proud, that in just 10 years, we have established ourselves as a significant player in the private healthcare industry, building our hospitals – and brands – from the ground up. Recently, the group has made several major acquisitions of established facilities in India, as well as entered into new joint ventures in the GCC. Being sensitive to the public needs and responding appropriately has been at the heart of our journey to date, coupled with an acute focus on quality in everything we do. And that will continue to be our guiding light as we enter our second decade.

One of the key drivers behind the success of VPS Healthcare has been our people. Our goal when we started was to build capacity and provide high-quality, affordable healthcare

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to the community, especially for those who did not have easy access to medical facilities. We also wanted to attract and retain the best talent, which is key for an organization’s growth. Focusing on retaining talented doctors and maintaining high-quality care drives patients to our facilities.

Another important part of our success has been obtaining recognition from international accreditation authorities, underlining the quality of governance across the VPS Healthcare network. Various facilities have been accredited by the Joint Commission International, the global authority on healthcare standards; the US College of Pathology, the global authority on laboratory standards; and ISO, the International Standards Organisation.

You have a chain of hospitals and medical centres in UAE, Gulf region and India. Tell us more about the group of healthcare services and its expansion?

Our aim is to build an integrated healthcare system in which an interdisciplinary approach and cohesion across various

specialties and units enables the development of innovative responses to complex healthcare problems, improving the lives of patients and their families. VPS Healthcare’s continued expansion illustrates the group’s commitment to sound governance policies and practices, reflecting its strengths as a dynamic organisation guided by directors and executive management of truly global professional standards and quality.

Members of the leadership team apply their specialist knowledge and expertise to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements across multiple domains and sectors.

This is particularly relevant in the Middle East, due to strong regulatory requirements.

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The group has no fewer than 15 specialist committees working on the integration and sharing of governance-related services, establishing common standards for best practice across all entities and facilities. The group is poised to further strengthen its operations at home and abroad.

VPS Healthcare is well experienced in the management of healthcare facilities and services. Can you give us a brief about your team?

VPS Healthcare’s multinational operations comprise a network of hospitals and medical centres, on-site services, homecare and occupational health, dental education, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and retail pharmacies. The group’s integrated healthcare delivery system provides primary, secondary, and tertiary care, with centres of excellence in various specialties. A team of more than 10,000 employees includes more than 1,000 doctors and serves more than 3.5 million patients every year, while our surgeons carry out more than 60,000 procedures annually across 60 operating theatres.

In your opinion, how can advanced technology boost healthcare sector?

Through VPS Healthcare group, what is the impact of these technological advancements on healthcare?

I am very passionate about this topic as I believe we are riding the cusp of a technological wave that promises to improve all aspects of healthcare.

We are already seeing how the data generated from electronic medical records, telemedicine platforms and remote monitoring tools offer insights that enable disease prevention and more precise healthcare delivery. As data becomes more extensive, connectivity faster and devices smarter, providers such as

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VPS Healthcare will be able to use this information to enhance the overall patient experience, beyond the four walls of a hospital. These types of technologies also offer safer, faster and more tailored treatments. They harness the power of technological innovation, achieving a far greater degree of personalization and precision in medicine than has not been possible before. Looking at how technology can impact healthcare delivery and recovery, at VPS Healthcare’s Lakeshore Hospital in India, we recently created a 3D printed model of a patient’s hip before carrying out a complex hip replacement surgery. This enabled doctors to learn the precise points where implants were required, saving operating time, reduction of blood loss, and faster recovery.

VPS Healthcare has many awareness initiatives in the field of community care.

What are these initiatives? And what is its impact on the society?

Thousands of people trust VPS with their health every single day.

Anything that matters to their health matters to us. But the commitment to wellness extends beyond the everyday activities of the group’s hospitals and clinics. This has earned VPS its widespread reputation as a socially responsible organisation.

For example, we operate mobile clinics that bring free health screenings into communities and workplaces. Just recently, for Labour Day on 1st May, we launched the ‘Health and Happiness Campaign’ offering free screenings and general education about health and wellness to over 450,000 labourers across

Abu Dhabi. VPS Healthcare firmly believes that prevention is better than cure, and by offering these services, we aim not only to create greater awareness about health conditions but also to ensure that people in our communities are receiving the care they need and deserve.As a tribute to the late HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding father of the UAE, VPS Healthcare initiated the first global initiative to provide 100 free heart surgeries for under-privileged people across the world.

This was completed in 2014 and subsequently increased to 1,000 free heart surgeries. As part of the initiative, 30 children from Iraq and five from Ethiopia were airlifted to India to undergo lifesaving surgeries.

In 2010, VPS deployed mobile mammography units to increase awareness about breast cancer, an endeavour that led to a Guinness World Record in 2014 for the largest simultaneous self-examination for breast cancer. Donations have also been made to the Emirates Red Crescent to support the ‘Yemen: We Care’ and ‘For Your Sake, Somalia’ campaigns. These are just some of the initiatives that we are supporting, underscoring our commitment to making a positive impact in society.

Health tourism is also one of the sectors that you are exploring. What are your plans to boost this part of healthcare?

The UAE Government is proactively working on expanding and revamping its healthcare infrastructure and systems to meet international standards. In the coming years, Burjeel, the premium brand in our integrated network, will continue

INTERVIEW

to play a leading role in advancing healthcare delivery, expanding its brand in the UAE and GCC. The UAE is one of the world’s fastest growing medical tourism hub and is poised to become one of the top medical tourism destinations with the total health expenditure allocation expected to reach AED 101 billion by 2021. Over 50% of our patients at Burjeel Hospital for Advanced Surgery in Dubai are medical tourists and we expect these numbers to rise throughout our various facilities in the near future. Burjeel Medical City is going to play a major role in advancing medical tourism as we will be providing the specialties that are currently lacking in the market.

Amongst the future projects, you have Burjeel Medical City MBZ City, Abu Dhabi. Can you tell us more about these projects?

Burjeel’s expansion plan is led by the Burjeel Medical City in Mohammed Bin Zayed City in Abu Dhabi, a tertiary-care complex that will be the UAE’s largest private healthcare provider when it opens in 2018. The landmark project will offer specialties such as oncology, long-term care, and wellness, along with advanced imaging, emergency, and endoscopy, a rehabilitation center with prosthetics and orthotics services, outpatient clinics, and state-of-the-art operating theatres and critical care areas. The new facility will comprise a 400-bed hospital, long-term care villas, and administrative buildings.

What about LIFEPharma’s second manufacturing plant in Abu Dhabi?

LIFEPharma, one of the region’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, is set to strengthen the UAE’s profile as a leading pharmaceutical manufacturing hub.

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“Thousands of people trust VPS with their health every single day. Anything that matters to their health matters to us. But the commitment to wellness extends beyond the everyday activities of the group’s hospitals and clinics”

We are proud that LIFEPharma will be the first UAE pharmaceutical manufacturing company to export pharmaceutical products to the United States, Australia, South Africa, Taiwan, and Europe, among other markets. The company will launch its first oncology formulation plant in the GCC region, part of four facilities it is setting up in Abu Dhabi.

This plant will produce a range of medication for the treatment of cancer such as tablets, capsules, liquid and lyophilized injections and pre-filled syringe production lines for global consumption, with the approval of international agencies such as UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UKNHRA) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

LIFEPharma already has a large manufacturing facility in Jebel Al Free

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Zone in Dubai, which caters to both local and overseas markets, and continues to play a dedicated role in making the UAE a global hub for knowledge-based, sustainable and innovative industries.

What are your plans for the future?

And where do you see the group few years from now?

We have plans to expand in the GCC Region and beyond. A number of projects are well underway in the GCC, which include the Burjeel Medical City; LIFEPharma’s second manufacturing plant; the largest day surgery centre in the Middle East at Reem Island, Abu Dhabi; hospital and medical centers in Qatar, Sharjah and Al Ain amongst others.

The Burjeel Medical City (BMC) is going to be a Quaternary Care Hospital for Oncology in the heart of Mohamed Bin Zayed City – Abu Dhabi.

BMC is expected to become the largest private Medical Healthcare Facility in the UAE. The facility will comprise of over 400 beds, LongTerm Care Facility, Long-Term Care Villas, an Administrative Building and an Educational Tower – all covering a GFA of 120,000m².

At the centre of the BMC lies the Main Hospital with its basement, 4 Podiums, 6 Towers and a Helipad for Airborne Patient Transport. This landmark project will focus on ultraspecialized domains like Oncology, Long-Term Care, and Wellness.

It also includes an advanced Imaging department, an Emergency Department, Endoscopy, a Rehabilitation Centre with Prosthetics & Orthotics services, Outpatient Clinics, and a state-of-the-art Operating Theatres & associated Critical Care Areas.

NEWS

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INTERVIEW

“Hospitals” magazine had the chance to conduct an exclusive interview with Ms. Alsy Avecado, Senior Media Specialist at Johns Hopkins when she was in Lebanon. Ms Avecado highlighted the importance of the affiliations of Johns Hopkins International with hospitals and medical centers in the Middle East, and also discussed the strategic plans that Johns Hopkins is looking forward to achieving in its future plan for the region.

We would like to talk about Johns Hopkins’ affiliations in the Middle East? Where do you exist? What is the importance of these affiliations?

Johns Hopkins Medicine’s presence in the Middle East includes Clemenceau Medical Center in Lebanon which was signed in 2002 and was the first Middle Eastern partnership for Johns Hopkins. The affiliation includes collaborations in clinical program development, patient and quality management services and educational packages for physicians, nurses and technical staff.

Alsy Avecado Senior Media Specialist at Johns Hopkins

Also, Johns Hopkins has affiliations with three other JCI-accredited hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (Tawam, Al Rahba and Al Corniche) owned by the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA). Other Johns Hopkins Medicine affiliations include Anadolu Medical Center (Gebze, Turkey) and in Saudi Arabia through the affiliation with Aramco Healthcare.

These affiliations allow us to provide the region with enhanced specialty and subspecialty services, new lines of treatment, research and education that address some of the most significant healthcare challenges.

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What is the added value of these affiliations? And what is their role in improving the healthcare sector in the region?

The main added value that we are seeking is to improve the quality of healthcare sector and that is our mission worldwide.

As an academic medical center, we are trying to achieve this mission through three approaches: clinical, education and research approach; these approaches are equal to us.

The affiliations that we have in the Middle East region offer us the chance to move the knowledge that we have to the region through training, advanced new medical approaches and healthcare delivery practices. We are bringing expertise to the region and transferring knowledge.

Since you are in the marketing field, what are your strategic plans to be more involved in the region?

We are looking to further promote science and research in our marketing strategies, and what is Johns Hopkins doing in this field because we believe that the differentiation among academic medical centers is research and how to develop the services for best care because it is not important to have a good hospital only but the added value can be achieved by exchanging knowledge and seeking more training for physicians, nurses and caregivers in any hospital.

So, our strategy is to publish more and more press releases in other languages which talk about the new research and innovation achieved by our research team. Knowledge transfer is very important to us and it is our goal.

NEWS

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ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

T

he medical sector has interacted with the tremendous development of technology and means of communication and has now become one of the sectors that has benefited from the development of the Information and communication technology (ICT) sector. It has played a prominent and important role in raising the quality of health services offered to patients around the world.

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By combining the health sector with the remarkable development of research, treatments, surgery and its great utility, information technology, the Internet and other information and communication technologies, a new science has emerged, namely, “Electronic Health�, which is the use of information and communication technologies for health care both in the same place and remotely, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The development of technology has been best used in the health sector and has benefited the medical

profession, doctors and hospitals in general and the patient in particular.

One of the most important benefits of medicine due to the spread of e-health use is the increase of efficiency and quality of health services, in addition to the reduction of medical errors, rapid response and access to information and participation in access and use of information.

There is also a long-term benefit of the possibility of collecting and utilizing information and data in research, strategic planning operations and identifying needs in the long term.

ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

Smart Healthcare

Revolution in the field of health services With the development of technology and its close relationship with the medical sector, it is necessary to develop medical devices that are in line with the reality. Today, we hear about many “smart” features in the products of giant medical companies, which took into consideration the remarkable development of the technology sector and strived to bring them into the world’s largest medical institutions and hospitals so that patients can receive “smart healthcare”.

“Smart healthcare” is no longer an option but a necessity for every institution working in the medical field because it is the best way to get accurate diagnosis and works accurately and quickly due to the easy access to information and healthcare providers can easily read results, thus prescribe the right treatment after reviewing the patient’s file electronically. Smart healthcare has contributed to improving quality by reducing risks of medical errors and prioritizing procedures

while alerting the health practitioner of the tasks and duties that should be implemented on time. The system also provides instantaneous documentation of when and where the procedures were implemented without the need to move from the place of treatment to the patient’s room and the computer room or administration.

Smart healthcare also helps medical providers to obtain accurate patient’s medical record, communicate with the physician or medical team in the clinic or health center in record time, or even access the internet to obtain information about a drug or health symptom before giving the patient treatment. All this is done through smartphones. Doctors and nurses can read laboratory results and diagnose the patient’s condition on any smart device, which in turn helps patients move between hospitals, receive reminders from their doctors, and help them monitor their health. Thus, this increases the effectiveness of

telemedicine after undergoing all routine tests in the hospital that are read by the doctor on his mobile phone. On the other hand, the patient and his family have many advantages from using smart services, through the possibility of sending an application electronically via a smartphone or an iPad that provides the opportunity to communicate with the doctor or any person authorized to follow up on his condition.

The request goes directly to the concerned party to implement the service, which reduces time and increases the patient’s level of satisfaction and comfort. The “Smart Technology” can be used to educate the patient and his family and improve their level of health awareness. This can be documented and linked to the patient’s electronic record so that education and awareness are interactive based on the information available in the electronic record and on the patient’s needs, while keeping all questions and inquiries in the record.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

Telemedicine services

The patient is able to contact and access the health service from home The concept of eHealth has culminated in the use of Telemedicine, as the development of information technology has contributed to the transfer of the patient’s medical data from one place to another electronically, including the accurate and clear transfer of medical images, videos and patient records etc.

The information technology and telemedicine services have great benefits in terms of reducing the time and cost of transporting the patient from one location to another and possibly from one country to another, in addition to its importance in the legalization of urgent medical services in rural areas through the patient’s medical images or test results to the medical centers, both inside and outside the country, for evaluation and guidance by appropriate medical specialists via web.

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Today, the patient is able to call and access the health service while he is sitting at home, communicate with the doctor, set appointments and review all medical services even if the service provider is in another country.

The web or the internet is the largest computer network in the world, connecting millions of computers; this field is growing dramatically day by day, enabling to create a new generation of information for both health professionals and patients as it is possible to access health information through the large number of health websites as well as health news and disease information. It also allows taking part in discussion groups and support or even purchasing health products. Medical clinics that can be accessed via web have contributed to increasing proximity to patients and

closely following up on their condition with the physician through communication devices, and providing them with guidance. Smart phones, satellite receivers, video technologies as well as Global Positioning Systems enable to interact with patients and share experiences with physicians around the globe.

Telemedicine services also offer doctors who conduct clinical research to communicate with each other despite their geographical distance, while exchanging patient records and diagnostic images.

In medical education, telemedicine technology contributes to improving medical education for doctors working in rural areas, where many rural hospitals can be linked to a major university hospital.

ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

Electronic Medical Record

A quantum leap in the efficiency and speed of health services It is the time of electronic medical record that offers the opportunity to collect an unlimited number of patient records electronically. Instead of looking for a patient’s file in the stacked files, the doctor can search today for the patient’s record and know his medical history and all his data by entering his file on the computer. The electronic record of each patient provides the opportunity for the doctor to see every detail that reduces the risk of error or the prescription of an inappropriate medication for his condition.

The aim here is to provide the best care possible for patients. Some statistics in this field have shown that the doctor wastes about 38% of his time while the nursing sector wastes around 50% of its time due to paperwork, while around 30% of records and files have been thrown away for some reason, in addition to many mistakes and risks of privacy in the paper record and more importantly the high costs of using medical records and paperwork. The electronic medical

record is therefore the best solution for the elimination of these problems, as it is an important step in the preservation of the patient’s information, medical history and the development of his health condition, in addition to saving what has been done to him from laboratory tests, radiation, surgical operations and medical reports.

Today, the electronic medical record has contributed to a quantum leap in the efficiency and speed of health services for the patient and in the development of the health system in general. It also contributed to reducing the total cost of health services within the health work system in hospitals and medical centers. The importance of electronic medical record does not stop at this point, but the possibility of sharing patients’ files with the possibility of transferring them, collecting, updating and storing them in order to establish a common electronic record where the doctor can check the latest medical reports on the patient’s health and their last medical visit from any hospital or

medical entity, which contributes to raising the quality of healthcare through the availability of data with the possibility of retrieving them at any time by the authorized parties only. This also prevents duplicate tests, especially radiation which is harmful to the patient. One of the most important benefits of the electronic medical record is the possibility of following up on the medical condition in all its aspects as the specialist will know the patient’s history and medication intake, whether he suffers from chronic diseases in addition to other details that shouldn’t be repeated during each visit to a doctor from another specialty.

The availability of a clear information base before the doctor saves time and cost, thus the time allocated to each patient will become more important and effective than any other time, which increases patient’s safety and speed of recovery.

The rapid access to medical information anytime and anywhere, and the easy documentation and archiving of information as well as the retrieval of lab results and tests, and the possibility of exchanging medical information with other health institutions electronically make electronic medical records an urgent need for every health institution or hospital. Cancer patients and with chronic diseases benefit the most from electronic medical records, as vital signs are written and monitored by the doctor or nurse in case of any repercussions or complications, which increases work efficiency within the institution and provides the service to the patient in a faster and more comprehensive way.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

Smart Bluetooth-connected toothbrush The latest technology in the modern era

Today, smartphones have become very common in the world, but did you ever expect to get a smart toothbrush with Bluetooth connectivity!

The latest innovation in oral and dental health is that you can get a smart toothbrush that can be connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth to tell you about the health of your teeth and gums, whether you brush them well, or if there are remaining germs in your mouth.

Modern technology has penetrated all sectors and fields but has become an integral part of them as work can’t be developed without introducing the latest technologies, and the medical field benefits the most from that.

Global companies today benefited from modern technological

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developments; then the smart toothbrush made a revolution in oral health and how to maintain clean and healthy teeth. Studies have shown that some cardiovascular diseases may affect your oral health.

They also may require changes in your dental treatment and how you receive dental care. Recent research has linked periodontal disease with the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke. Therefore, a smart app-connected toothbrush was introduced that can be connected to the phone with Bluetooth.

What is this toothbrush and how does it work?

The electric teeth cleaner communicates with an app on your smartphone, receiving programming

instructions and settings and sending back data on your history and track record to let you get a historical look at how our mouth care has been going.

It provides the highest degree of user interaction to track your oral care habits to help improve your oral health, and it will have significant impact on the future of personal oral care. The toothbrush combines a variety of sensors in the handle to track in real time how you’re brushing your teeth.

The data is synced via Bluetooth to an app for both iOS and Android. As you brush, you know if you’re brushing too much or too little. The app also warns you if you’re using too much pressure or scrubbing too hard. It also allows you to set focus areas on particular teeth that might need more work, as recommended by your dentist.

ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

E health is trend in medical sector and the future of hospitals. How are you working in this field to improve patient care?

Every modern health system is harnessing technology and the latest advancements to provide patients with better care, support and faster access, Qatar is no exception. We’ve been developing E-health solutions in Qatar for several years. For example, we’ve already connected all public providers on a single information system, called the Clinical Information System. It means clinicians can spend more time with each patient and less time on paperwork and it will also reduce errors in transcription. The CIS will help clinicians and healthcare providers to access a patient’s healthcare history, prescription information, clinical notes and other important information electronically.

Technology also plays a role in how we deliver our services. Our automated pharmacies – now operational in Al Wakra and Hamad General Hospitals – can dispense 3000 medication packs an hour.

This has reduced waiting times and means our pharmacists can spend more time with each patient. Hamad has Wi-Fi enabled ambulances that enable paramedics to transmit critical information about patients to clinical teams in the hospital before the patient even arrives. Building on the success of the CIS implementation,

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Hamad Medical Corporation Hamad bin Khalifa Medical City’s stateof-the-art integrated ICT infrastructure will improve access to information, staff and patients.

For example staff can be contactable wherever they are within the Medical City hospitals via the wireless phones they will carry. They are therefore no longer tied to desks or nurse stations which frees up more time for them to spend with patients.

In your opinion, how can Advanced Technology boost healthcare sector?

Advanced technology and healthcare go hand-in-hand. Clinicians are always looking at ways to deliver care more efficiently and cost-effectively.

A good example of this is the telemedicine system for stroke patients that has been established between Al Khor Hospital, Al Wakra Hospital and the Stroke Ward at Hamad General Hospital. Before the telemedicine system was introduced, patients would often need to be transferred to HGH’s Emergency Department for a full assessment before treatment was given.

By significantly reducing the time period between the onset of stroke symptoms and the start of treatment, patients’ chances of making a full recovery are greatly improved.

Research has shown that stroke patients who receive thrombolysis, a clot-busting treatment, within one hour of suffering a stroke have a one in three chance of making a full recovery. But the longer this treatment is delayed, the lower the chances; with only one in 12 patients making a full recovery when treatment is given after four and a half hours.

Time is brain, meaning the faster treatment can be given following a stroke, the better the chances of a patient’s recovery.

As per your experience through your hospital/health group what is the impact of these technological advancements on healthcare?

The impact of technological advancements on patient care is, frankly, immeasurable. Each day, across our system, technology plays a role in delivering safe and effective care to our patients. From the moment a patient arrives at one of our hospitals, it touches them.

But one of the greatest benefits of technological advancements is the impact on the delivery of patient care – enabling clinicians to spend more time with patients and to ensure a seamless experience.

ARTICLE FEATURES . eHealth

E-health nowadays is the trend in medical sector and the future of hospitals. Where are you from E-Health and how does it benefit in improving patient care?

King Saud Medical City’s (KSMC) E-Health is currently on a baseline implementation and will evolve by the support of the higher management. A robust E-Health system will provide KSMC an opportunity to improve efficiency, reduce administrative costs, facilitate communication, and enhance patient care. Automation of all manual and paper work to an electronic and digitalized healthcare informatics, streamlining the communication between healthcare provider and service recipient. In its broadest sense, e-Health is about improving the flow of information, through electronic means, to support the delivery of health services and the management of health systems.

KSMC is currently using a locally developed HIS for more than 10

years, thus it is primitive in terms of technology and functionality especially the clinical information.

The system covers patient administration, outpatient, inpatient, pharmacy, laboratory, blood donation. We have an ambitious plan to move to full electronic EMR. Other applications and solutions installed are PACS/RIS radiology systems, Endoscopy, LIS from the old locally developed HIS.

The World Health Organization- WHO, defines e-Health as the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health? In your opinion, how can advanced technology boost healthcare sector?

In my opinion, technology plays a vital and critical role in the changing healthcare environment. With the rapid change in healthcare needs and demands of care services, every healthcare institute needs to race and be attuned with this change. The use of technology will enhance healthcare

provision, and the digitalization by e-Health systems will improve the sharing of information and having better consultancy by having second opinion on cases through ease of sharing information. Technology also when health systems are extended on mobiles or mobile devices like PDA’s will surely speed the process of healthcare provision and increase the accuracy and avoid medical errors while adopting healthcare best practices.

As per your experience through your hospital, what is the impact of these technological advancements on healthcare?

An integrated EMR will eliminate the manual paper medical record, and will simplify the view of the history of the patient’s information and the point of care. This will help other clinical teams to give right medication based on electronic medical records and use electronic support libraries for evidence-based decision in deciding safe and effective patient treatment.

Moreover treating consultant will have the ability to access comprehensive and integrated patient information including diagnostic & clinical test results which will be beneficial in case medical decision and action are needed particularly for emergency cases.

Tony Onaissi (President & CEO) of Home Care Lebanon: These are some of the benefits of having a complete and robust IT system

Make smart and quick decisions based on actual data.

Reduce errors in the process of delivering care to patients because our professionals have to go through specific steps to accomplish their tasks electronically.

Improve timing of care delivery as punctuality is monitored.

Generate the Electronic Health Records (EHR) for the patient and share it with his physician for better patient care.

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INTERVIEW

Alexander Artemiev Doctor of Medicine, the leading expert of the Clinical Hospital on the Yauza

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Reconstructive surgery based on Ilizarov technique is an example of a breakthrough technology in medicine that first appeared in Russia. Doctor Alexander Artemiev had an interview with ‘Hospitals’ magazine about the advantages and prospects of the method. Below is a shortened version of the interview.

Dr. Artemiev, Doctor of Medicine, is the leading expert of the Clinical Hospital on the Yauza, has carried out more than 1.5 thousand surgeries to correct deformations and shortenings of the lower limbs with the use of the Ilizarov technique.

He actively promotes it, and in June 2017, he will highlight this issue at the Eurasian Orthopedic Forum.

Mr Artemiev, what is your assessment of the role and place of the Ilizarov technique in traumatology and orthopedics? I often hear the opinion that this is the past ages.

For many years I have been using and promoting external transosseous osteosynthesis based on the Ilizarov technique - and indeed, I meet many opponents. Formally, it is truly “past ages,” but only because it was invented in the middle of the last century. However, to date only a basis of the first apparatus has survived the rings, which make it recognizable.

INTERVIEW

The modern apparatus is the fruit of collective creativity of several doctors’ generations. The main thing is not even the device itself, but the discovery that Gavriil Abramovich made. The said “Ilizarov effect” is as follows: it is a general biological property of tissues to respond to dosed stretching by growth and regeneration. Someone once invented a wheel, and since then it has been an integral element of machines and mechanisms. Ilizarov has invented such a “wheel” for traumatology and orthopedics.

It is no secret that in many industries we focus and rely on foreign technologies and equipment. As far as medicine is concerned, the Ilizarov apparatus and technique is the only domestic medical technology that has been recognized all over the world. This is a calling card of Russia in medical circles. Among the other branches, I can site as an analogy the first artificial Earth satellite created in the Soviet Union. Another example is the Kalashnikov assault rifle, but the designation of the Ilizarov apparatus is quite different, creative.

For more than two years my father, Alexander Anatolievich Artemiev, was the chief traumatologist of our army in Afghanistan in the 80s. He implemented it in gunshot wounds treatment, saved lives and preserved hands and feet in hundreds of

young men. It is a pity that Ilizarov had not invented his device ten years earlier. Perhaps, we could have won in the Great Patriotic War with much fewer losses.

When correcting deformities of limbs, different types of osteosynthesis are used. What are the advantages of the Ilizarov technique as compared to them?

The possibilities of the Ilizarov technique are much wider. There are fewer counterindications.

For example, a plate cannot fix a deformation greater than 15 degrees.

And the apparatus can fix any large deformation, it is created for this end - as a super-cross-country SUV, capable of traveling where other machines cannot. And there is no need for complex preoperative planning, while in case of internal osteosynthesis with the use of suprabone plates, one should calculate in advance the course of the surgery taking into account a variety of factors, and it is not always possible to achieve the desired result without complications. The apparatus can also bring the limb axis to an ideal position in almost 100% of cases.

When using the Ilizarov technique, the complication rate is considerably lower. Already in 5-7 days after the surgery, the patient starts walking, he independently manipulates the

apparatus, and the shape of the legs is gradually being adjusted.

The doctor only needs to perform clinical and x-ray monitoring in time to understand when the desired result is achieved. The Ilizarov technique has no alternatives in cases of severe mechanical injuries and gunshot wounds, which are accompanied by extensive soft tissue damage, when the use of plates and pins is counterindicative because of inflammation or osteomyelitis risks.

Due to this specificity, the Ilizarov apparatus is widely used in military hospitals, but, unfortunately, it is used less and less in civilian healthcare.

How do you assess the condition of reconstructive and, in particular, aesthetic orthopedics of limbs in our country and globally?

First of all, let’s define the terminology. Reconstructive surgery is a general concept, aesthetic surgery is only a small part of it.

Confusion in terms is due to the fact that the legs are one of the few organs which shape is directly related to the function. The shape of the ear does not affect the sense of hearing, the shape of the nose does not affect the breathing function - they are corrected mainly for aesthetic reasons. The shape of legs is quite a different thing. If the limbs are deformed, the joints experience an

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increased and uneven loads. This significantly increases the risk of deforming knee joint arthrosis in the age of 40-50, especially against the background of age-related and hormonal changes, weight gain, microtraumas, pregnancy in women, and other factors.

Therefore, a surgery to correct the crooked legs at a young age can significantly reduce or even completely eliminate the risk of arthrosis development. An indicative fact: every year several hundreds of thousands of people in the world undergo a rather serious surgical operation - knee joint arthroplasty. I am sure that 70% of them could avoid this operation if they underwent corrective osteotomy 5-10 years ago.

Corrective osteotomy is a surgery aimed at restoring the normal position of the mechanical axis of a lower limb. To make it absolutely clear - it is a surgical operation to straighten limbs. Hence the error: the legs were crooked, now they become straight - this means aesthetics.

I will put it differently: the legs were crooked, now they become straight - this means prevention. But, unfortunately, many doctors - not only in Russia, but also abroad - either are unaware of the possibilities of preventing knee and ankle arthrosis, associated with deformities, or do not pay enough attention to this area.

Corrective osteotomy can be performed by different methods.

I would like to cite here a famous Italian orthopedist, Maurizio Catagni, who was the first in the world to appreciate the possibilities of the Ilizarov technique in the treatment of gonarthrosis and characterizes it as fast, simple, safe and effective one.

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Apart from correcting the shape of legs this technique is also used to increase height. How much the patient’s height can be increased?

5-7 cm can be added to the height. For example, with the least expenditure of energy, time and resources of the body, last year we got operated a 22-year-old man who is engaged in bodybuilding. His height has increased from 190 to 196 cm. It is planned to apply to make an entry for him in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest man whose legs were lengthened. The surgical operation was carried out simultaneously with the correction of shins.

What difficulties do the doctors using the Ilizarov technique are facing in aesthetic surgery of limbs?

A serious problem is that people with pathology of limbs do not have reliable information. Basically they are looking for information on the Internet, on forums. There are many myths circulating, including complications, there are even specific words: ‘slope’, ‘medial’”, ‘subsidence’, which are not used in medicine.

Why the doctors do not provide patients with reliable information?

Unfortunately, very many orthopedic traumatologists and rheumatologists are not familiar with the peculiarities of transosseous osteosynthesis, they do not know the indications for its application. Therefore, for example, in cases of knee pain anti-inflammatory drugs, hormone therapy or arthroplasty are most often prescribed. But while the corrective osteotomy by the Ilizarov technique is similar to a tooth filling, prosthetic implant is like a dental crown or a bridge. A tooth does no longer exists. But while man has 32 teeth, there are only two knee joints.

By and large, osteotomy and arthroplasty solve different problems, in order to prevent the development of arthrosis, you must first restore the mechanical axis of the limb and reduce load on the joint, thereafter, based on the indications, perform a sanative arthroscopy, and only in a few years, if the disease progresses, arthroplasty should be considered.

What, in your opinion, can help solve the problem of keeping doctors updated and developing the Ilizarov technique?

One should bring together medical professionals of different specialties: orthopedic traumatologists, rheumatologists, rehabilitation specialists, radiologists, even physicians from polyclinics. It is necessary to conduct interdisciplinary training, which has long been a “gold standard” in the world of medicine. Speaking of my specialty, an interesting example is the Eurasian Orthopedic Forum, where it is possible to present and compare different points of view.

The forum is also interesting due to participation of the doctors from Asian countries, where the varus deformity of the legs is an ethnic distinction. As a consequence, arthrosis develops in the population much more often than, for example, in Europe. This has been repeatedly proved by results of scientific research. Recently, the interest in this issue has increased significantly among specialists from China, Korea, and Japan. Therefore, in my opinion, it would be promising to develop our direction jointly by the EAEU countries, in order to not only improve the quality of care for patients with limb deformation in Russia and the CIS, but also contribute to the development of medical tourism in Russia.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Robotic Surgeries

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oday, robotic surgery has become an urgent necessity that must be available in every medical institution as it allows doctors to perform many types of complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than is possible with conventional techniques. Robotic surgery is usually associated with minimally invasive surgery — procedures performed through tiny incisions. It is also sometimes used in certain traditional open surgical procedures.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Robotic Surgeries

Technological advancements have strongly entered the world of medicine while bringing modern and sophisticated methods and procedures that are now available all around the world.

world and the Gulf and some countries were even the first to provide this technology after having worked on attracting professional doctors who master this new technology.

Today, robotic surgery is the trend of modern medicine that allows surgeons to operate with greater precision and minimal discomfort for the patient.

The use of high-definition 3D cameras allows surgeons close-up views of areas they aren’t able to see during open surgery. Robotic surgery is also available in many countries of the Arab

Robotic surgery has now become one of the available options for the patient that doesn’t require him to travel to Europe and the United States. The technology is now available in Lebanon at the Clemenceau Medical Center in Beirut through the Da Vinci robot, which requires a highly skilled professional.

THE DA VINCI SI HAS TWO SEPARATE BUT CONNECTED SECTIONS: • The tower: It is positioned directly over the patient during surgery, contains the robot’s four arms—three that can hold a multitude of different surgical instruments, and a fourth that holds the system’s 3-D cameras. These arms are controlled by a computer that exactly replicates the movements of the operating surgeon • The console: It is where the surgeon sits and operates the robot’s controls while looking into a stereoscopic monitor that provides a magnified, high definition 3-D view of the surgical site. The surgeon manipulates the robot’s four arms by maneuvering two master controls that provide fingertip precision of movement.

The surgeon also operates a footswitch that provides additional options, such as the ability to switch between two different energy sources. Touchpads allow the surgeon to easily adjust video, audio and system settings, while the ergonomic console and the alignment of the controls and monitor are designed to keep the surgeon in a relaxed, focused position at all times.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Robotic Surgeries

Main types of robotic surgery Robotic surgery can be used in all laparoscopic surgeries from prostate surgery to cardiovascular operations and gynecologic operations. The goal is to minimize complications of conventional surgery. The benefits of minimally invasive surgery include fewer complications, such as surgical site infection, less pain and blood loss, quicker recovery and smaller, less noticeable scars.

Compared to traditional techniques, the very small incisions created by robotic surgery drastically reduce patients’ time in the hospital and their risk of infections. The use of high-definition 3D cameras allows surgeons close-up views of areas they aren’t able to see during open surgery. Fully articulating robotic arms mimic the movement of hands, allowing surgeons to have greater dexterity and control than is possible with conventional laparoscopic instruments. Surgeons who use the robotic system find that for many procedures it enhances precision, flexibility and control during the operation and allows them to better see the site, compared with traditional techniques.

Using robotic surgery, surgeons can perform delicate and complex procedures that may have been difficult or impossible with other methods. The advantages of robotic surgery are also evident in surgical procedures performed in a narrow and deep area such as the pelvis, especially in surgeries for rectal cancer due to its anatomical nature.

Weight-loss surgery Robotic weight-loss surgery is less invasive than open surgery. Rather than one long abdominal incision, there are just a few small incisions—causing less trauma to tissue. It is also a particularly viable option for patients who are severely obese because of the increased vision and dexterity that the system allows.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Robotic Surgeries

Gynecologic surgeries use robots the most Robots are used in 90-95% of gynecologic surgeries. The most common gynecological surgeries include:

• Myomectomy: Robotic myomectomy is performed in order to treat fibroids that are causing general pelvic discomfort.

Robot-assisted surgery is now coming into wider use for these conditions because it allows for superior visualization of the fibroids and the surrounding tissue, and also provides the surgeon with an improved ability to suture the uterus—resulting in less overall blood loss during the procedure compared to open or laparoscopic surgery.

• Hysterectomy: A laparoscopic hysterectomy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove the uterus. A small incision is made in the belly button and a tiny camera is inserted. The surgeon watches the image from this camera on a TV screen and performs the operative procedure.

• Repair of congenital uterine anomalies: With this modern technique, the surgeon can change a double uterus into a single uterus without the need to open the abdomen; the patient can then get pregnant without having a miscarriage associated with these cases.

• Repair of uterine prolapse: Pelvic prolapse occurs when a pelvic organ, such as your vagina or uterus slips out of its normal position. During surgery, doctors use surgical mesh to keep your pelvic organ(s) in the correct spot and ease your symptoms.

• Fallopian tube surgeries: One of the most successful operations that can be performed using laparoscopy and can unblock the fallopian tubes.

• Removal of adhesions on the ends of ovaries, fallopian tubes and pelvis: Since adhesions on the ends of the ovaries and tubes can cause pelvic and abdominal pain as well as during menstrual periods, these adhesions can be easily removed with the robot.

• Reopening of fallopian tubes: Some women block their fallopian tubes to prevent conception, and when they want to get pregnant they can easily reopen them through robotic surgery.

• Ectopic pregnancy • Treatment of endometriosis • Cancer of the reproductive system

Prostate Cancer Surgery The da Vinci robotic prostate cancer surgery system is able to provide superior clinical prostate cancer treatment results when compared to non-robotic traditional and scope-assisted procedures. This is because the da Vinci system’s Surgeon Console is equipped to provide the surgeon with a revolutionary, three-dimensional, multi-level magnification spectrum. More traditional scope-assisted surgery typically provides a much lower resolution image, and a far more limited field of vision.

Furthermore, the da Vinci system’s sensitive electronics and one centimeter diameter surgical arms allow the surgeon to make highly precise movements inside the incision during robotic prostate cancer surgery. This means that the malignant tissue can be removed with an efficiency and ease unheard of prior to the era of robotic surgery.

This greater precision reduces the likelihood of relapse due to missed cancerous tissue. The precision of the da Vinci system also allows the surgeon to avoid damaging healthy prostate tissue, which improves clinical results, reduces scar tissue build up, and contributes to an overall shorter recovery period after robotic prostate surgery.

When a physician determines robotic prostate surgery is the best prostate cancer treatment option, da Vinci’s robotic technology optimizes the chances of a quicker recovery time as opposed to traditional surgical prostatectomy.

The smaller incisions required to manoeuvre the operating arms heal much faster, require fewer sutures and, therefore, are less vulnerable to tearing or infection.

The precise movements of the robotic arms allow a more targeted approach for cleaner removal of malignant tissue and reduce damage to healthy tissue during robotic prostate surgery. The operating arms of the da Vinci Surgical System are designed to avoid contact between the operating instruments and the walls of the incision. All of these advantages translate to a speedier and less worrisome recovery period.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Alzheimer’s Disease

NO TREATMENT HAS BEEN FOUND YET

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he number of dementia patients is increasing rapidly, with increase in life expectancy, according to World Health Organization (WHO). It is anticipated that the numbers will rise to 75.6 million by 2030.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Alzheimer’s Disease

Although doctors have yet to fully understand the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, ongoing research has shown that it is caused by brain cell death. It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means there is progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time. The total brain size shrinks with Alzheimer’s - the tissue has progressively fewer nerve cells and connections. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that affect the brain over time. Symptoms include memory loss that disrupts daily life, challenges in planning or solving problems, difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure, confusion with time or place, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, new problems with words in speaking or writing, misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps, decreased

or poor judgment, withdrawal from work or social activities, changes and mood and personality.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia that can affect memory, change in behavior and the ability to perform daily activities, among other issues. It is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.

In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear in their mid60s. Alzheimer’s is a disease that evokes great fear in many people as they age since there is still no treatment for this disease. Recent research reported that taking care of the patient and standing by him/her will result in better outcomes along with the available medications.

CAN WE PREVENT IT?

Here are seven effective ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, according to Boldsky website:

1. Being fit

Weight loss is one of the best natural ways to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, as a study has shown that obesity and overweight may lead to Alzheimer’s disease with age.

2. Eating healthy

Eating healthy foods rich in nutrients and minerals, especially foods containing omega-3 fatty acids, helps keep your brain cells healthy.

3. Lowering cholesterol levels

When cholesterol level is high, it may accumulate in the arteries, and may reach the brain cells causing damage and leading to Alzheimer’s disease.

4. Controlling blood pressure

A natural way to avoid Alzheimer’s disease is to maintain a normal blood pressure. High blood pressure causes damage to the arteries and obstructs blood flow to the brain, damaging nerve cells.

5. Keep learning new things

Recent study found that learning new things and skills, playing chess and solving puzzles make you less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.

6. Treating depression

The most common symptoms can be identified as follows:

• Inability to understand and remember new information • Misplacing things and being unable to retrace steps to find them • Inability to do simple things or wear appropriate clothing • Difficulty to think of common words during a conversation • Poor judgment and decision-making • Change in personality or behavior • Poor perception of risks and planning ability

The treatment of depression and anxiety quickly contributes to the prevention of Alzheimer’s, as mental disorders can rapidly damage brain cells.

7. Avoiding red meat

Not eating too much red meat and trying to avoid it also contributes naturally to the prevention of Alzheimer’s because the amino acid found in them can damage brain cells.

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ARTICLE

Vitamin-D Deficiency making elderly populations more dependent on dietary vitamin D

Signs and symptoms Dr. Ahmad Al-Ajaj Internal Medicine / Al-Ahli Hospital

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itamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and it is important for calcium homeostasis and for optimal skeletal health. Vitamin D3 produced by the skin upon exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation.

Etiology

Vitamin D deficiency can result from the following: • Inadequate exposure to sunlight; adults in nursing homes or healthcare institutions are at a particularly high risk.

• Vitamin D malabsorption problems, resection of the small intestine, celiac sprue, short bowel syndrome, and cystic fibrosis.

• Minimal amounts of vitamin D in human breast milk.

• Medications : Dilantin, phenobarbital, and rifampin.

• This was significantly more common in women than in men in the Middle East (reflects the cultural and religious practices leading to less skin exposure in women than in men).

Darker skin people require 6 times the amount of UV radiation necessary to produce a serum vitamin D concentration similar to white skin ,this explain the higher prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency among darker-skinned adults. Vitamin D production in the skin declines with advancing age,

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Vitamin D deficiency is often clinically silent.

Manifestations are as Follow:

• Children are often found to have started walking late or prefer to sit down for prolonged periods.

• Adults can experience chronic muscle aches and pains, fatigue, tiredness, increased risk of infections,depression,Impaired Wound Healing, Hair Loss and bone tenderness (osteomalacia).

Physical findings in severe vitamin D deficiency are as follows: • In children, bowing in the legs (rickets).

Diagnosis

Measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH] D) is the best test to determine vitamin D status.

Screening for vitamin D deficiency is recommended only in those individuals who are at high risk for vitamin D deficiency, including the following.

• Patients with osteoporosis • Patients with a malabsorption syndrome.

• Black and Hispanic individuals.

• Obese persons (body mass index >30 kg/m 2).

• Patients with disorders that affect the metabolism of vitamin D and phosphate (eg, chronic kidney disease).

Management

Vitamin D–deficiency should be treated by the specialized doctor after confirming the deficiency with the appropriate tests, the excessive and unobserved use of vitamin – D

supplements can lead to vitamin-D toxicity. Advised to spend (10 minutes for fair skin and 30 minutes for brown skin and 1 hour for black skin) in the sun with your arms and legs exposed (not your face) between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. two to three times a week from March through May and September through October but only 15-20 minutes in July and August when the sun in strongest. If you remain outdoors longer than the specified time, apply sunscreen.

Recommended dietary intake of vitamin D for patients at risk of vitamin D deficiency is as follows: • In infants and children up to 1 year old, at least 400 IU/day.

• In children and adolescents 1-18 years of age, at least 600 IU/day.

• In adults 19-70years of age, at least 600 IU/day.

• In adults > 70 years of age, at least 800 IU/day.

• Raising the serum 25(OH)D level consistently above 30 ng/mL may require vitamin D intake of at least 1000 IU/day.

Most dietary sources of vitamin D do not contain sufficient amounts of the vitamin to satisfy daily requirements.

The following foods contain the indicated amounts of vitamin D: • Fortified milk (8 oz.) - 100 IU. • Fortified orange juice (8 oz.) - 100 IU. • Fortified cereal (1 serving) - 40-80 IU. • Pickled herring (100 g) - 680 IU. • Canned salmon with bones (100 g) 841 IU. • Mackerel ( salted (100 g) - 1006 IU. • Canned sardines (100 g) - 332 IU. • Codfish liver oil (100 g) –10000 IU. • Mushrooms (Portobello Exposed to Sunlight) 100g – 1136 IU. • Most multivitamins (1 tab) - 400 IU.

ARTICLE

Al Ahli Hospital

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to promote healthy diet to tackle high Obesity prevalence in Qatar

ith an aim to combat and reduce the burden of obesity in the country, Al Ahli Hospital will soon start a new initiative supplying healthy food for people intend to lose weight.

The first of its kind initiative will give people a choice of more than 100 healthy cuisines carefully prepared under the supervision of expert dietitians, said Jamal Hammad, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Al Ahli Hospital. “We are going to start up a sister company called ‘Diet to Go,’ and for the very first time in Qatar will find expert dietitians joining hands with a French Chef to provide healthy food to overweight people,” he said speaking on the sidelines of the ‘Obesity and Overweight Symposium’ organised by Al Ahli Hospital at Katara, the Cultural Village.

“Basically we will have 122 different cuisines. So if anyone wants to go on a special diet or lose weight, they don’t need to go for the usual bored food every day, but choose from a wide selection. We hope to launch this by end of April,” Jamal added.

‘Diet to Go’ food will be produced within the Al Ahli Hospital campus under the strict monitoring of dietitians on calories and other factors which contribute to a healthy meal.

“Guests register with the hospital will be able to have mobile application, so they can log in with a password and user name. Each guest will have a calories intake designed to suit their health condition and needs. Guests will be able to select from the menu, but if they exceeded the designated calorie intake they will not be able to submit

the order,” said Jamal Hammad. ‘Diet to Go’ will be commercialised and anyone would be able to order food through subscription.

Some 1,200 medical professionals and experts are taking part in the two-day ‘Obesity and Overweight Symposium.’

The event hosts a number of lectures, discussions, and presentations on obesity and other related diseases.

“The topic being discussed is very timely, especially for the region. It is aimed at addressing the problems connected with obesity and overweight. The ratio of people, even children, with obesity and overweight is on the increase every year. We believe this symposium will address diagnosis and prevention of obesity,” said Hammad. According to the World Health Organization, in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Qatar has the highest prevalence of obesity. Worldwide, five GCC and Arab nations are included among the 20 countries with high prevalence of obesity .

At the Al Ahli Hospital, an average of 21 bariatric (weight loss) procedures are conducted every week, including for people from the GCC region. “We do at east around 15 surgeries every week, but this is with the traditional

bariatric surgery or gastric sleeve surgeries. We do another six surgeries with the new technique called folding the stomach, which is basically stitching the inner layer of the stomach to reduce the size. So on an average we do around 21 procedures,” said Hammad. “We hope this symposium will help people to prevent obesity and overweight. It will present comparing the ratio of obesity in the Middle East and other regions as well as the techniques on how to control and combat obesity, especially prevention from childhood by introducing a helathy lifestyle,” he said.

‘Obesity and Overweight Symposium’ is also the first of Al Ahli Hospital’s large scale events which is Qatar Council for Health Professional (QCHP) accredited.

“This symposium is aimed at providing education and creating awareness. We have 30 speakers from several countries including Holland, the US and Austria. They have come with updated knowledge on how to prevent and manage obesity. On the first day of the symposium we discuss about the medical aspects and on the second day will highlight on surgical procedures,” said Dr Azeem Abdulwahab, Medical Director at Al Ahli Hospital.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Travel Medicine

How to maintain a healthy lifestyle when travelling?

Travel medicine... Dealing with the patient’s needs for a safe trip

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Travel Medicine

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here are a lot of preparations that one should make before travelling on a short trip for business or leisure from buying tickets to booking hotels or planning the trip. Whatever the purpose of the trip was, the health of the traveller is key and he is supposed to be aware of the health situation of the country he is travelling to given the spread of some diseases in certain areas such as the tropical diseases in addition to the viruses and epidemics that we have been hearing about lately in some African countries and others. Therefore, the traveller should be cautious and take preventive steps in order for his trip to be disease-free.

The traveller is exposed to many diseases due to fatigue, exhaustion and the country he is heading to in light of the spread of epidemics and contagious diseases that we heard about and that have emerged in the recent years such as Ebola or bird flu, without forgetting patients with heart disease, asthma or chronic disease who need special care in order to have a safe trip.

A disease, no matter what it is, should not prevent the patient from travelling whenever he wants to since the orientation of modern medicine requires the prevention of a disease or heart disease by following doctors’ instructions and advice. When a patient lives a normal life in terms of prevention and regular check-ups with the doctor, he is able to travel and be a normal human being in his daily life.

Pre-travel appointment It is important that you visit a travel medicine specialist or a doctor familiar with travel medicine to answer your questions and make specific recommendations for you. The best time to

see the doctor is at least 4-6 weeks before your trip. Follow the advice of your doctor by getting the shots and medicines that are recommended for you. Make sure that you are up-todate with all of your routine vaccinations, including a seasonal flu vaccine, consider any recommended vaccines for your destination, and discuss any allergies, current medications, or other health concerns with your doctor.

If you have recently been sick or find yourself sick at the time of planned travel, see your doctor to discuss whether you should travel. Traveling while you are sick may put your health at risk or put others around you at risk for getting sick.

First aid kit A basic travel health kit is important no matter where you travel. Regardless of the destination, all international travelers should assemble and carry a travel health kit. The contents of a travel health kit should be tailored to the traveler’s needs, type and length of travel, and destinations.

A travel health kit can help to ensure travelers have supplies they need to manage preexisting medical conditions and treat any exacerbations of these conditions, prevent illness and injury related to traveling and take care of minor health problems as they occur.

Whether the patient was suffering from a chronic disease or not, the first aid kit should contain a first aid quick reference card, the basic firstaid items such as bandages, gauze, ace bandage, antiseptic, tweezers, scissors, cotton-tipped applicators and over-the-counter medicines such as antidiarrheal medication, decongestant, cough suppressant, cough drops and antifungal and antibacterial ointments or creams.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Travel Medicine

Cholera

Ebola Diseases of African countries You can stay healthy during travel by taking the right steps to protect yourself before you go. You can also do things to help prevent disease while you are traveling. Most infections you catch while traveling are minor.

In rare cases, however, they can be severe, or even deadly. Diseases vary in different places in the world. You will need to take different preventive steps, depending on where you are going. The following things should be considered: local climate, insects and parasites as well as sanitation.

Malaria is a serious disease that spreads by the bite of certain mosquitoes. It occurs mainly in tropical and subtropical climates. Malaria can cause high fevers, shaking chills, flulike symptoms, and anemia. If you are traveling to an area where malaria is common, you may need to take medicines that prevent the disease. These medicines are taken before you leave, during your travel, and for a short period after you return. You should also take steps to prevent insect bites.

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For more than a year, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have been experiencing the largest and most complex outbreak of Ebola in history.

The public health system in Guinea has shown that it is able to detect and respond to cases quickly by having a robust surveillance system in place, including cross-border communication and reporting systems; therefore, the overall risk of Ebola in the West African region has been reduced.

Ebola is a severe disease, often fatal, caused by the Ebola virus that is transmitted through direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids from infected people, dead or alive.

Symptoms usually appear between two days and 21 days following exposure to the virus.

The disease may start suddenly with fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches, or other non-specific symptoms. In a later stage, some patients may have profuse internal and external bleeding and multi-organ failure.

Cholera infection is associated with poor sanitation and is generally acquired from contaminated water or food, particularly undercooked or raw shellfish and fish. Infection with Vibrio cholerae, toxin-producing bacteria, presents clinically as profuse watery diarrhea. If left untreated, severe fluid loss can lead to rapid dehydration and hypovolemic shock, which may be life threatening. Treatment consists of mainly oral or parenteral rehydration and antibiotics. The spectrum of disease is wide, with mild and asymptomatic cases occurring more frequently than do severe ones. For travellers, cholera prevention relies primarily on care in the choice of food and water and in the use of good hygienic measures, rather than on immunization.

Diarrhea Travelers’ diarrhea is often used as a generic term for any illnesses ranging from an upset tummy to loose stools during or after travel.

It could mean just excess gas, or a variety of symptoms that can occur from a change in the types of food or beverages we are used to – or, most commonly, to contamination of food or beverages. And it’s not just food and beverages.

Touching your mouth or nose with contaminated hands may be all it takes. People often discuss the importance of care in selecting “safe” foods and beverages for consumption. We recommend that foods be freshly cooked and be piping hot; such foods are safer than those on a buffet that have been sitting out for hours. Water should be bottled and sealed, or boiled. Chronic conditions should not keep people from enjoying travel. As with other medical conditions, people suffering from chronic

ARTICLE FEATURES . Travel Medicine

Asthma patients

diseases should see their doctor as early as possible before traveling and discuss any risks that may be involved, as well as plan for immunizations, medication, and other medical devices that may be needed before or during the period of travel. Diabetes shouldn’t stop you from doing the things you want to do. If you want to travel, and you have diabetes, you must plan ahead carefully. Although you can’t avoid the odd surprise, preparing before you leave can help avoid undue stress. Visit your doctor for a check-up several weeks before you leave for a holiday, discuss your itinerary with your healthcare team and work out plans for your meals and medication, especially if you are travelling through different time zones, be sure to get any required

vaccinations at least four weeks before you travel, so you have time to deal with any possible side effects, ask for a list of your medications (including the generic names and their dosages) from your pharmacist.

Travelling with chronic conditions If you take insulin, record the types of insulin and whether the insulin is rapid-acting, short-acting, intermediate or long-acting. Be sure to carry a copy with you at all times. Have a letter from your doctor stating that you are allowed to carry medicines or supplies because some airlines and some countries require you to.

Syringes and needles in particular can present a problem when flying and when entering some countries.

Having asthma should not prevent you from travelling and enjoying your holidays. Planning ahead is key to having a great time away and dealing with any potential problems with your asthma. Health experts advise preparing for a trip four to six weeks before you travel. Things to consider as part of your preparation include health check, asthma triggers, air travel, travel immunization and travel insurance.

If you’re always short of breath, even when resting, you may need a special evaluation before you fly because of the reduced oxygen levels at high altitude. Carry all your asthma medicines as hand luggage, in case your checked-in luggage goes missing or your medicines are damaged in the baggage hold. Take spare inhalers in case of loss or theft. These can usually be carried in your hand luggage. Bring enough medicine to last throughout your trip plus a few extra days.

All asthma medicines taken on board should be in their original packaging, with the prescription label and contact details of the pharmacy clearly visible.

Travelling with a heart condition Most people with a heart condition are able to travel, as long as they feel well and their condition is stable and well controlled. If you’re recovering from a heart condition, such as a heart attack or heart surgery, it’s often best to wait until you’ve fully recovered before you travel. Your GP or heart specialist can advise you on whether you’re fit enough to travel by air.

Health experts advise preparing for a trip four to six weeks before you travel. Consider arranging support at the airport terminal, such as help with your luggage and early boarding onto the plane. Avoid countries where there are extreme temperatures, either very hot or very cold, as this can put an added strain on your heart.

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ARTICLE

Technology, Trends & Innovation

by Dr. Prem Jagyasi

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ARTICLE

Wearables: These health-alert sensing tools are going to occupy a significant share in the future global healthcare market.

Wearable shipment that stood 2.5 million in 2016 is estimated to touch 97.6 million units annually by 2021. You get a constant update of your vital health parameters through a wearable device like Fitbit, Apple watch etc.

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r Prem Jagyasi recently delivered a presentation about Global Healthcare and Medical Tourism future, technology, trends and innovation – at HTI conference Croatia, here are excerpts of the speech and some videos for your review. Technological breakthroughs have always been a great driver in shaping the global healthcare sector but the recent trend of digitalization is about to bring a sea change in medical product and service sector. The current global healthcare scenario is focused on managing the burgeoning ailing population where medical care resources are limited but treatment expenses are shooting up.

Consequently, technological innovations are providing more utilitarian benefits to the healthcare seekers enabling them to avail a quicker hassle-free healthcare service. The future global healthcare trend is treading quite a different route where digitalization is stealing the show.

Enhanced connectivity providing real-time data would dominate the future healthcare scenario. Remote healthcare monitoring and enhanced knowledge and skill transfer platforms through digitalization would be able to bring more number of global patients under a standard healthcare support.

Through the smart usage of social media platforms, smartphones, apps and

wearables, the customers would have better access to the latest medical support. They would be able to make their choice of treatments. Emphasis would be more on preventive healthcare that would see a huge saving in medical treatment cost. Travelling beyond the borders for better and affordable healthcare is the norm of the day and such futuristic innovations are going to take the driver’s seat. Let us discuss some amazing digital innovations which are going to contribute heavily in benefiting the global healthcare seekers.

MHealth Practicing medicine through mobile devices like mobile phones, ipads, tablets and computers is picking up at a fast pace where real-time treatment guidelines can be provided in remote locations lacking sufficient medical support. Particularly, in the developing and underdeveloped nations where there is a wide usage of mobile phones, healthcare monitoring can be done effectively through them.

Apart from disease surveillance, Mhealth is extensively used in combating epidemic outbreaks. This is also finding extensive use as an educative tool in creating awareness about preventive healthcare. As a result, home healthcare monitoring system with MHealth applications is predicted to touch $59.15 billion by 2020.

Round-the-clock monitoring of health parameters is mandatory for chronic patients. This becomes easier through wearables when the doctors can have access to the real-time data of the patient. It is possible to provide quick treatment that can often save the patient from a disaster. Most importantly, these devices are soft on the wallet and can reduce the treatment cost by 60%. Usage of google glass, another example of medical wearable, is gaining huge popularity benefiting both the physicians and patients where proper treatment guidance can be given on real-time basis through remote connectivity. Surgeries can be performed efficiently through google glass involving other remotely located specialists whose real-time suggestions can be immensely valuable.

Virtual Reality: The world is virtually connected today.

Virtual reality is an amazing innovation in medical technology enabling better service delivery to the patients. It enables better interaction through a computer simulated environment.

It allows direct participation of many users from different locations.

For example, in critical surgeries, more surgeons can be connected through VR even if they are not present physically in the operation theater.

Virtual Reality applications will also be used more in aiding patient recovery through entertainment helping in enhancing his/her communication skills.

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Augmented Reality: The advanced version of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality provides a 360-degree view of the medical treatment on real-time basis. With an immense prospect of better healthcare delivery, Augmented Reality along with Virtual Reality has been producing sensational results.

One can see a 3D view of the organ, its functioning and the treatments administered through mobile devices.

Augmented Reality is being applied in pharmacy management, medical imaging and fitness management.

The sensational application of AR was conducted by Dr Safi Ahmed, the reputed cancer surgeon of Royal London Hospital in a critical operation that was streamed on real-time basis. It enabled active participation of specialists from different locations to carry out the surgery successfully.

Internet of things: A new era of interoperability of different devices and gadgets through enhanced connectivity has set in the global healthcare management scenario. This would see further remarkable manifestations in the near future when you would find all the devices are communicating with you guiding in proper healthcare management.

The integrated connectivity of mobile devices and gadgets through internet is a great innovation which is being largely adopted by clinics and hospitals. The objective is the same –better remote healthcare monitoring. The doctors and medical staff maintain a constant interaction with the patients through real-time data sharing.

They get constant updates about the health condition of the patient which enables timely medical suggestion. It helps in minimizing treatment errors and also suggests proactive actions to check further aggravation of the con-

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dition. By 2020, about 4 million global patients would go for remote healthcare monitoring through Internet of Things (IOT).

Telemedicine: Telemedicine has become a permanent feature in providing long distance clinical support. Considering the booming of aging population, it is about to make further enhancements in providing better service to aged chronic patients with restricted mobility. Through virtual communication, it is doing a great job often saving lives of critical patients. The medical practitioners too have found an efficient tool to leverage their practice that is significantly enhancing their reliability and trustworthiness. This is also helping them to survive in a tough competitive atmosphere. It is estimated that the telemedicine market would touch $36.3 billion in 2020. In the booming medical tourism sector, telemedicine is providing long distance assistance to medical travelers especially in pre and post treatment issues. Lack of proper post treatment follow ups is a serious lacuna in medical tourism that often leaves the medical tourists in a hapless situation after the trip.

Artificial intelligence: With the wide applicability of IOT and

Telemedicine, the necessity of Artificial Intelligence in analyzing big data automatically sets in. Manual scanning of voluminous patient data and suggesting treatments is time consuming that would ultimately not justify the objective of IOT and telemedicine.

With Artificial Intelligence, it is possible to scan millions of documents in seconds and suggest best treatments.

This would be highly time-saving and help in better disease management.

Suitable capacity of storing this big data is being created which can be retrieved as per requirement. Artificial Intelligence also helps the patients in locating physicians and the existing medical facilities.

Dr Prem Jagyasi

A globally acclaimed, award winning strategic leader and speaker, Dr Prem Jagyasi is world renowned medical tourism consultant. He has authored Medical Tourism Guidebook and Wellness Tourism Guidebook. He has also delivered numerous keynote speeches and focused corporate workshops in 45+ countries. More than 150 international organizations have benefited from his expertise through conferences, expert training, consultancy and brand management services. http://drprem.com

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2017 EXCELLENCE IN BEST PRACTICES

MIDDLE EAST Wednesday, 24 May 2017 | Atlantis - The Palm, Crescent Road, The Palm, Dubai, U.A.E A gala evening commemorating and recognizing outstanding performances and accomplishments of companies who have demonstrated excellence in Growth, Innovation, and Leadership.

AWARDS ACROSS INDUSTRY SECTORS  

Transformational Health

Digital Transformation

Energy & Environment

Metals & Minerals

Mobility

Industrial Automation & Process Control

Digital Media

MEDIA PARTNERS

Visionary Sciences

Aerospace and Defence

Tech Vision

Logistics

Entry by Invite only

CONTACT

For General Queries:

Award Enquiries:

For Media and Associations:

Walaa Medhat D : +971-4-4331893 E : walaam@frost.com

Shruthi Jadhav D : +91-20-40778885 E : shruthij@frost.com

Srishti Choudhury D : +91-20-40778850 E : srishti.choudhury@frost.com 81

ARTICLE

Hamad Medical Corporation Raising Awareness about

by Dr. Hussam Al Soub, Senior Consultant of HMC’s Infectious Diseases Unit cautioned

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n recognition of World Malaria Day and in support of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) call to improve access to life-saving prevention tools, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is raising awareness of malaria and the importance of taking preventive measures, especially as many residents plan their summer vacation.

This year’s global theme for World Malaria Day, observed each year on 25 April, is ‘End Malaria for Good’.

In the lead-up to the day, the WHO is highlighting the importance of prevention as a critical strategy for reducing the toll of a disease that is thought to be responsible for more than 400000 deaths each year.

While malaria is not endemic in Qatar, hundreds of cases are diagnosed every yearas a result of residents traveling to malaria-endemic countries.

Dr.Hussam Al Soub, Senior Consultant of HMC’s Infectious Diseases Unit cautioned: “People who have resided in Qatar for a long time and other malaria-free countries (countries where there is no continuing local mosquito-borne malaria transmission) may have lowered immunity to malaria and are thus vulnerable to serious illness.”

Malaria is caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. It can be a deadly disease, affecting millions of people each year and resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths annually, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the WHO. According to the WHO, since 2000, malaria prevention programs have helped reduce the number of deaths caused by the mosquito-borne infectious disease, primarily through increased use of insecticide-treated nets and indoor spraying with insecticides. Malaria transmission is more intense in warmer regions closer to the equator.

However, even in countries where malaria is endemic, the risk of transmission can be reduced by avoiding bodies of water and staying in mountainous regions.

“Simple precautions can help prevent infection during visits to malaria-endemic areas, such as using mosquito repellent creams and mosquito nets (particularly insecticide-treated nets), wearing long sleeves and long pants to cover your skin, and avoiding going outside at night,” said Dr. Al Soub.

“People who plan to travel should consult their doctor or visit a clinic that offers travel vaccinations and medicine, such asthe travel clinic at HMC’s Communicable Disease Center.

It is preferableto visit a clinic two to three weeks before departure to get general advice and prophylactic (preventive) medications if needed. In general, it is important to start taking medication before travel, during travel and after coming back, as advised by a doctor. There are currently no licensed vaccines against malaria,” said Dr. Al Soub.

He added that travelers to malaria-endemic areas may also be at risk of other infections, thus emphasizing the importance of visiting a travel clinic and receiving medical advice.

Individuals who have recently traveled and are experiencing chills, fever, headache, diarrhea, nausea and/or vomiting, are advised to immediately visit their health center, informing the doctor about their recent travel history. Early diagnosis and treatment of malaria are important as the infection can quickly progress to severe illness,which can sometimes result in death.

Children, pregnant women, the elderly and residents of malaria-free countries are at the greatest risk of developing a severe illness as a result of a malaria infection. Those with a lowered immune system due to other illness are also at an increased risk.

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Seeing is Believing

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ne only has to gaze upon a beautiful mountain vista or marvel at the iridescent rainbow captured in a tiny drop of rain to realize the joy in having clear vision. We often take this gift of sight for granted, but for those unable to manage their day to day requirements with visual clarity, it is of inestimable value. Eighty percent of learning is achieved through our eyes; a truly significant factor for children entering the school system, as in order for them to maximize their educational capacity it is imperative that they clearly identify letters, numbers and symbols.

Sadly, far too many children begin kindergarten with an undiagnosed vision or eye health problem, which can impede their ability to learn during those first critical years in school.

In 2003, Dr. Dorrie Morrow, along with the Alberta Association of Optometrists in Canada, partnered with various local health and school authorities and the Alberta government’s Ministry of Children’s Services to launch an innovative pilot program called ‘Eye See… Eye Learn.’

It is estimated that a phenomenal 14% of school-aged children experience some form of vision dysfunction and the ‘Eye See… Eye Learn’ project was designed to ensure that neither vision deficits nor eye health problems were issues preventing children from reaching their full learning potential. Parents with children entering kindergarten were encouraged to obtain comprehensive eye and vision examinations provided pro bono for their child by local optometrists and ophthalmologists. As well, through the generous donation of participating industry sponsors, those children subsequently found to require eyeglasses were given them free of charge. Increasing vision-health awareness through education is a

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pivotal element of the ‘Eye See… Eye Learn’ program. In conjunction with the pre-school eye examinations, a set of books called the ‘Bright Eyes’ series has been distributed to every elementary classroom from kindergarten to grade six, as well as every pediatrician and optometrist’s office within the province. The books are based on six of the most common vision concerns such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, amblyopia and eye safety in sports, as well as one emphasizing the correlation between vision and learning.

Written in an entertaining style with beautiful illustrations; the goal is to provide accurate, age-appropriate wellness information to young readers. The educational component also extends to adults, as each Bright Eyes book contains a section called ‘Stuff for Grown- Ups;’ a parent and teacher’s guide to signs, symptoms and treatments for each condition. The inaugural year of ‘Eye See…Eye Learn’ was deemed an unmitigated success, and raising awareness around the importance of eye health examinations resulted in more than 30% of Albertan children having their eyes examined prior to starting school.

Every elementary school across

ARTICLE FEATURES . Seeing is Believing

the province of Alberta has now adopted the Eye See…Eye Learn program, with roughly 56,000 parent information packages being sent out to Albertan homes every year since the pilot and in fact, this incredibly beneficial program is now in place almost Canada-wide. In June of 2015, the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists followed Alberta’s lead and distributed the Bright Eyes series to over 700 locations throughout their province.

This very generous initiative provides vision-health education to every school, library and day-care setting within Saskatchewan, and in combination with early childhood eye examinations takes aim to rectify vision deficits before they can impact a child’s potential to learn.

Dawn Leslie is the author of thirty health and wellness books for children; with over 180,000 copies on the shelves of every elementary classroom in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Since moving to the Middle East some years ago, she has been deeply committed to sharing her wellness message with children throughout this region and actively advocates for a preventive health curriculum to be taught in school.

She believes that children can be wonderful stewards of their own health if given information in an engaging, age-appropriate format. Knowledge is empowering, and an awareness of what to expect greatly increases a child’s confidence and reduces anxiety. Available in English and Arabic; her books are both informative and beautifully illustrated. Dawn has an open, honest outlook on life and considers herself a citizen of the world. Equally as happy having dinner with luminaries or sleeping under the desert stars; her motto is a quote from John Wooden: ‘Make each day your masterpiece,’ and she truly believes in living life to the fullest.

She welcomes all comments and questions, and can be reached at: http://www.healthywellthywisebooks.com/ https://twitter.com/DLesleyLeslie https://www.facebook.com/healthywellthywisebooks/

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ARTICLE FEATURES . Heart Disease in Children

restricts blood flow or a mitral valve prolapse, where the mitral valve leaks or defects in the wall that separates the left and right sides of the heart (the septum).

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ome children develop congenital heart defects due to genetic predisposition or genetic mutation caused by exposure to certain environmental conditions. Today, the development of techniques and diagnostics have been detecting many cases of congenital heart disease in children and working to treat them with the best practices as early detection protects the child from the development of the disease and its complications.

Congenital heart disease is one of the causes of sudden death in children, which was frequent in the past and

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doctors did not know the cause of death due to lack of diagnostics at the time. The good news today is that the development of medicine helps the child overcome this health problem after undergoing some treatments.

Congenital heart disease is a type of heart disease that children are born with, usually caused by heart defects that are present at birth. In fact, the most common heart conditions found in children are structural heart defects.

These usually involve a problem with the heart muscle or the heart valves, and include heart valve conditions like a narrowing of the aortic valve, which

Other congenital heart defects that affect children include hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), where the left side of the heart is underdeveloped, holes in the heart, typically in the walls between the chambers and between major blood vessels leaving the heart and tetralogy of Fallot, which is a combination of four defects, including a hole in the ventricular septum, a narrowed passage between the right ventricle, pulmonary artery, a thickened right side of the heart, and a displaced aorta.

Congenital heart defects may have long-term effects on a child’s health.

ARTICLE FEATURES . Heart Disease in Children

The most common congenital heart defects:

Ventricular Septal Defect

VSD is a hole in the wall separating the two lower chambers of the heart.

In normal development, the wall between the chambers closes before the fetus is born, so that by birth, oxygen-rich blood is kept from mixing with the oxygen-poor blood. When the hole does not close, it may cause higher pressure in the heart or reduced oxygen to the body.

They’re usually treated with surgery, catheter procedures, medications, and in severe cases, heart transplants.

Symptoms of heart disease may usually appear during the early years of a child’s life, and they may include: • Skin turning blue.

• Rapid breathing.

• Snoring during breathing.

• Swelling in the legs, abdomen or areas around the eyes.

• Being unable to breathe well while eating because of weight loss.

If this was not a very serious problem, the child will feel tired as soon as they start exercising, in addition to having swollen hands and feet.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus

The ductus arteriosus is a normal blood vessel that connects two major arteries — the aorta and the pulmonary artery — that carry blood away from the heart in a developing fetus.

The lungs are not used while a fetus is in the womb because the baby gets oxygen directly from the mother’s placenta. The ductus arteriosus diverts blood away from the lungs and sends it directly to the body. When a newborn breathes and begins to use the lungs, the ductus is no longer needed and usually closes during the first 2 days after birth. But when the ductus fails to close, a condition called patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) results, in which oxygen-rich blood from the aorta is allowed to mix with oxygen-poor blood in the pulmonary artery. As a result, too much blood flows into the lungs, which puts a strain on the heart and increases blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries.

Atrial Septal Defect

An atrial septal defect (ASD) — sometimes referred to as a hole in the heart — is a type of congenital heart defect in which there is an abnormal opening in the dividing wall between the upper filling chambers of the heart (the atria). In most cases ASDs are diagnosed and treated successfully with few or no complications.

Acquired Heart Disease Heart disease that develops after birth is described as an acquired heart disease. This is in contrast to congenital heart disease, which is present at birth.

Acquired heart disease in children may represent diagnoses that do not occur in adults (for example, Kawasaki Disease) or may be similar to conditions present in adults (for example, dilated cardiomyopathy). The more common heart disease often seen in adults in which blockages in the heart’s arteries lead to chest pain or heart attack is more rare in children. Among the more common heart conditions acquired during childhood are rheumatic heart disease and Kawasaki disease.

Children who have been diagnosed with and treated for congenital heart defects may be at increased risk of acquiring endocarditis and cardiomyopathy. And some children and young adults develop abnormal heartbeats, called arrhythmias.

Obesity in children Some recent statistics indicate that about 15% of obese children suffer from heart disease due to increased cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

This increase is due to unhealthy nutrition resulting in excessive weight gain, which causes an increase in arterial blood pressure, noting that arterial hypertension is also caused by kidney disease or aortic coarctation in children.

Diagnosis of Heart Disease Your child’s doctor may initially suspect a problem because he or she hears a heart murmur during a routine exam.

A heart murmur is a sound that occurs when blood flows abnormally through the heart or blood vessels. Your child’s doctor can hear a heart murmur with a stethoscope.

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Rheumatic Fever Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that can develop as a complication of an infection with group A Streptococcus (GAS) bacteria. A GAS infection in the throat is more commonly known as strep throat.

Strep throat differs from a throat infection caused by a virus. It is diagnosed based on a patient’s symptoms and physical exam and confirmed with a throat swab. If the throat swab shows Streptococcus bacteria, a doctor will prescribe antibiotics to fight the infection. In most children, however, a sore throat results from a viral infection and does not need antibiotics. Rheumatic fever is most common in children aged five to 15 years. It is rare in children aged under three. Symptoms of rheumatic fever can appear two to three weeks after a GAS infection if the infection is not treated properly with antibiotics.

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If it’s possible your child has a heart defect, your doctor or your child’s doctor may order several tests to see if your child has a heart problem. In addition to a regular physical exam, these could include fetal echocardiogram, this test allows your doctor to see if your child has a heart defect before he or she is born, allowing your doctor to better plan treatment.

In this test, your doctor performs an ultrasound. The sound waves from the ultrasound are used to create

a picture of your baby’s heart. Your child’s doctor may use a regular echocardiogram to diagnose a congenital heart defect after your child has been born. In this noninvasive test, your child’s doctor performs an ultrasound to produce images of the heart.

An echocardiogram allows the doctor to see your child’s heart in motion and to identify abnormalities in the heart muscle and valves. Electrocardiogram, this noninvasive test records

ARTICLE FEATURES . Heart Disease in Children

Treatment

A congenital heart defect may have no long-term effect on your child’s health — in some instances, such defects can safely go untreated. Certain defects, such as small holes, may even correct themselves as your child ages. Some heart defects, however, are serious and require treatment soon after they’re found.

Depending on the type of heart defect your child has, doctors treat congenital heart defects with:

Medications

Some mild congenital heart defects, especially those found later in childhood or adulthood, can be treated with medications that help the heart work more efficiently. And, sometimes, congenital heart defects can’t be operated on, or can’t be completely repaired. In these cases, medication may be an option.

the electrical activity of your child’s heart and can help diagnose heart defects or rhythm problems. Electrodes connected to a computer and printer are placed on your baby’s chest and show waves that indicate how your child’s heart is beating. Your child may have a chest X-ray to see if the heart is enlarged, or if the lungs have extra blood or other fluid in them.

These could be signs of heart failure.

Pulse oximetry measures how much oxygen is in your child’s blood. A sensor is placed over the end of your child’s finger to record the amount of oxygen in your child’s blood. Too little oxygen could suggest your child has a heart problem. Cardiac catheterization, in this test, a thin, flexible tube (catheter) is inserted into a blood vessel at your baby’s groin and guided through it into the heart. Catheterization is sometimes necessary because it may give your child’s doctor a much more detailed view of your child’s heart defect than an echocardiogram.

In addition, some treatment procedures can be done during cardiac catheterization.

Drugs known as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), beta blockers, and medications that cause fluid loss (diuretics) can help ease stress on the heart by lowering blood pressure, heart rate and the amount of fluid in the chest. Certain medications can also be prescribed to help irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias). Sometimes, a combination of treatments is necessary. In addition, some catheter or surgical procedures have to be done in steps, over a period of years. Others may need to be repeated as a child grows. A proper diagnosis, regular healthcare, and healthy lifestyle habits are the best way to reduce the risk for heart disease in children.

Encouraging healthy lifestyle habits in children simply means providing healthy food choices and opportunities for daily physical activity.

Surgery

In some cases, your child’s doctor can’t fix your child’s heart defect using a catheter procedure. In these cases, your child may need surgery to repair the defect. The type of surgery your child needs depends on the extent of the defect. For some congenital heart defects, such as holes in the heart, minimally invasive heart surgery may be an option.

However, congenital heart defects are usually corrected using open-heart surgery. Either type of surgery requires stopping the heart temporarily and using a heart-lung machine to circulate the blood throughout the body during surgery.

The big difference between the two surgeries is that in a minimally invasive procedure, surgeons can operate through the ribs using only small holes. In openheart surgery, the chest has to be opened. These surgeries are major medical procedures and may require a significant recovery time for your child.

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WCM-Q doctor offers EXPERT ADVICE ON CHILD NUTRITION

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eill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) pediatrician Dr. Amal Khidir offered parents valuable advice on how to ensure their children eat a healthy, balanced diet at the latest WCM-Q Ask the Expert event.

In addition to giving detailed dietary information for children from birth to age 18, Dr. Khidir, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, explained that one of the most valuable gifts a parent can bestow upon a child is an appreciation of good, healthy food and respect for one’s own health.

Speaking at the event, held at WCM-Q’s campus in Education City, Dr. Khidir said: “It is crucial to not only teach our children which foods are healthy but also to nurture in them a love of healthy balanced food from a young age. The trick is to respect autonomy and avoid arguments. The parents have to be clear in their mind and from the beginning adopt a healthy lifestyle. Many times parents forget they are the role model to their children and adolescents. The picky eater is not born a picky eater, it is determined by how the caregiver handles the normal fluctuation in appetite. The new offering of food may take 10-15 times before a child or a baby accept it.

“There are many creative ways parents can avoid or overcome difficulties related to their children’s nutrition. They can do this by introducing children to good, fresh food from an early age, by cooking and eating together as a family, and by explaining to children how a good diet will keep them strong and healthy so that they can play with their friends, take part in sports and generally enjoy childhood free from poor health.”

The Ask the Expert series is part of WCM-Q’s SahtakAwalan – Your Health First campaign. The interactive presentations are free to attend and feature an interactive Q&A session that allows audience members to ask follow-up questions about the topic.

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Dr. Khidir explained the benefits of breastfeeding for newborn babies and encouraged mothers who experienced difficulty feeding to seek help from their child’s doctor, obstetrician, midwife or lactation specialist. She then discussed ways to gradually introduce solid foods to babies from the age of six months, before speaking about the differing nutritional needs of children at each stage of development, starting with toddlers and progressing through pre-schoolers, gradeschoolers and teenagers.

In addition to stressing the benefits of good nutrition, Dr. Khidir also warned about the risks to health posed by diets that include large amounts of fast foods that are very high in calories, sugars and saturated fats these include becoming overweight or obese and an increased likelihood of developing type-2 diabetes.

Dr. Khidir explained that families should be conscious about the availability of fast food, and the influence on children’s diets of other caregivers, such as nannies, day-care teachers and extended family members.

She also urged parents to lead by example by adopting healthy lifestyles that include eating a nutritious diet and taking regular exercise, and advised that such plans may require the collaboration of all involved in care and upbringing of the child or teenager. Dr. Khidir also shared some resources that can help families and care providers to support the healthy nutrition of children and adolescents.

Dr. Khidir added: “We don’t want to scare parents but we do all need to be aware of the risks associated eating a lot of fast food like burgers, pizza and shwarma, or snacks like chips, cakes, sodas and sweets. In developed countries like Qatar where fast food is easily available and it is quite common for families to have nannies and child-minders we all need to make sure we know what our children are eating and to instill healthy habits in them. ”

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

WCM-Q Grand Rounds explores ANTI-CANCER SIDE-EFFECTS OF DIABETES DRUG

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he possible anti-aging and anti-cancer effects of the most widely used diabetes medication in the world were discussed at the latest installment of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds.

Dr. Chris Triggle, Professor of Pharmacology at WCM-Q, summarized the research into the potentially beneficial side-effects of metformin, a synthetically manufactured drug that has been in use for over 60 years as a treatment for type-2 diabetes.

It is estimated that more than 150 million people around the world use metformin every day.

In type-2 diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin or the body’s cells do not respond adequately to insulin, which is responsible for controlling blood sugar levels.

Metformin is an oral medication that helps to keep blood sugar levels under control by improving insulin sensitivity.

Speaking at WCM-Q to an audience of fellow health professionals, Dr. Triggle said: “Metformin is the ‘first choice’ medication for treatment of type-2 diabetes because it is very effective, it is very inexpensive, and its side-effects are generally not severe. Indeed, there is evidence that suggests metformin may actually have some beneficial side-effects, such as anti-aging and anti-cancer properties, as well as protecting against cardiovascular disease.”

Studies of stype-2 diabetes patients receiving metformin showed a statistically significant reduced incidence of cancer and improved survival rates among those who did

get cancer. Dr. Triggle explained that the beneficial side-effects of the drug appeared to be related to its capacity to affect the function of the body’s endothelial cells, which line the interior surfaces of blood vessels.

The endothelial cells play a key role in supporting the growth of new blood vessels in tumors, and metformin appears to interfere with this process.

Dr. Triggle also spoke about some of his own research into a protein called Sirtuin 1, which is encoded by a gene called SIRT1 known to be involved in the aging process.

Metformin appears to interact with the SIRT1 gene and interrupt the aging process. This interaction also appears to slow the deterioration of the cardiovascular system.

Research conducted in Dr. Triggle’s laboratory at WCM-Q has been published in some of the world’s most important medical journals, including the British Journal of Pharmacology.

Dr. Triggle said: “The side-effects of metformin are not yet fully understood, but it is clear that there are a number of very promising avenues for further research which could one day lead to novel applications for the medication.”

Dr. Stephen Atkin, Professor of Medicine at WCM-Q, said: “Dr. Triggle’s research is helping us gain a better understanding of this very important medication and its potential uses beyond its current scope. This is extremely exciting and promising work that could have a very positive effect on human health in future.”

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Mecomed hosts the 3rd MENA MedTech Forum

“Joining forces for better patient outcomes” at Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Centre

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n International Women’s Day, healthcare leaders from across the region pledged to take action in closing the workplace gender gap while attending the 3rd MENA MedTech Forum in Dubai. The commitment comes following local survey results which revealed very few women in senior leadership roles within the corporate healthcare environment in MENA, mirroring global numbers reported by the World Economic Forum showing only 6% of CEOs in the healthcare industry are women.

HE Dr Amin Al Amiri The Assistant Undersecretary of Public Policy and Licensing, Ministry of Health and Prevention, UAE

The MedTech event, which attracted more than 400 medical technology professionals, regulators and policy makers was used as a platform to examine barriers and solutions to gender diversity and equality within the MENA healthcare industry.The third edition of the Forum also covered the most pressing topics in MENA healthcare today, including assessing solutions towards sustainable quality healthcare, the global and regional economic outlook and impact on healthcare spending, ethical blindness in business, regional regulatory challenges, cybersecurity in healthcare and the role of the MedTech industry in addressing the area challenges.

Speakers addressing the importance of gender diversity at the Forum included; Dr. Amin Al Amiri, The Assistant Undersecretary of Public Policy and Licensing, Ministry of Health and Prevention, UAE; Dr. Dania Dialdin, Strategic Inclusion Manager MEA, McKinsey & Company UAE; Dr. Basma Al Buhairan, Managing Director of Healthcare and Life Science, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority; and Rita Habash, Business Leader Healthcare, 3M.

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International Women’s Day: Healthcare leaders commit to raising the bar on gender diversity at the 2017 MENA MedTech Forum While delivering ‘the increasing role of women in MENA healthcare’ session, Dr Dania Dialdin referred to McKinsey & Company’s recent Women Matter 2016 report. “Our research has consistently shown a correlation between the proportion of women on executive committees and corporate performance,” she said.

“This research outlines three game-changers to distinguish bestin-class companies when it comes to gender diversity: one, they have persistently pursued diversity, started to do so earlier and sustained their programs; two, they have strong support from their CEOs who are committed to entrenching gender diversity at all management levels; and three, they have launched holistic change programs to engrain gender diversity throughout the company”.

Hosted by Mecomed, the Middle East and North Africa Medical Devices and Diagnostics Trade Association, the two-day 2017 MENA MedTech Forum is being held at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Centre, Dubai Healthcare where industry professionals share insights and best practices on local critical issues,

including regulatory, educational and market entry strategies needed to integrate medical technology into the complex healthcare systems of the region. Striving as the voice of international medical technology manufacturers for 21 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Mecomed spearheads initiatives to work closely with healthcare officials to set credible standards for the region and help formulate, evolve and sustain ethical business practices.

While the core mission of Mecomed is to ensure patients gain timely access to life-saving technologies in MENA and also helping industry professionals navigate through the multifaceted local market, this year for the first time, the association introduced gender diversity to the MedTech Forum agenda, with the hope to inspire the industry to address the existing gender gap.

His Excellency Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Policy and Licensing of the Ministry of Health and Prevention delivered the opening keynote address for the Forum and highlighted

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the important role women play in the workplace. “I can see how committed our region’s healthcare industry is to ensuring patients are kept at the forefront through Regulatory systems and Policies and it’s encouraging to see so many industry professionals working together to foster an environment that helps provide prompt access to dependable and life-saving technologies,” “What’s more pleasing is how many of our experts have come together today to support women in leadership and support gender diversity in the workplace which ultimately translates into diverse thinking and greater innovation.”

Mecomed member and Dubai Science Park’s Executive Director, Mr. Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, who attended the Forum said: “At Dubai Science Park, we are committed to facilitating a more sustainable and self-sufficient future that maximises the capabilities of our diverse resources and talent. Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and women leaders play a significant role in fostering growth and positive change in our industry. As we continue to work towards a sustainable future, we will ensure that Dubai Science Park fulfils its commitment to addressing the gender gap with the hope to inspire future female leaders,” he said.

Patient Meshari Mohammed Al Hedaish

Patient Meshari Mohammed Al Hedaish & Father Mohammed Al hedaish

health outcomes. The forum aims to help healthcare leaders from across the industry to join forces and have an open dialog on how to cooperate to contain health spending while improving patient outcomes without compromising health status, quality of care, or innovation”. “On International Women’s Day, the forum also provides a platform to acknowledge the benefits gender diversity in leadership presents, including offering different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights which allows for better problem solving and a more informed approach to strategy building.

It also allows us to better serve an increasingly diverse customer base”, he added. The 2017 MENA MedTech Forum ran from 8-9 March 2017 and gathered more than 300 key regional healthcare bodies, such as government authorities, policy makers, regulators, providers, patient organizations in addition to MedTech industry professionals and their regional business partners. The event included 17 presentations, panel discussions and workshops covering key MedTech industry issues and trends, delivered by 45 industry expert speakers from across the region.

Mecomed Chairman Mr. Rami Rajab said he hoped the MENA MedTech Forum would make true strides towards improving patient care in the region.

“Promoting ethical business behaviour, working proactively with governments, regional bodies and healthcare professionals to deliver quality solutions for patients sits at the core of what we do at Mecomed.”

“There is a crucial need for the healthcare sector to carry on developing innovative solutions to improve

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Depression is the Second Most Common Mental Health Condition in Qatar, Says HMC Expert

Dr. Majid Al Abdulla

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peaking up and seeking help early will assist those living with depression to get better, return to their normal activities and prevent life-long mental disability, said Dr. Majid Al Abdulla, Consultant Psychiatrist and Deputy Chair of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Mental Health Services. Dr. Al Abdulla said depression is the second most common mental health condition in Qatar. However, he said the prevalence of depression in Qatar is comparable to international figures.

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Dr. Al Abdulla explained that depression is a mood disorder that is characterized by symptoms of deep sadness, a sense of emptiness and physical ailments. “Depression can be linked to several genetic and social factors, and it has many different triggers that can range from sudden loss of a parent or a loved one to excessive stress or frustration due to low self-confidence.

Women are more susceptible to depression than men,” he said.

Dr. Al Abdulla warned that some people living with depression develop a sense of frustration and gradually lose hope. ”It is important to pay special attention when someone exhibits symptoms of depression and to encourage that person to seek treatment. Symptoms of depression include low mood, continued sadness, inability to enjoy life, loss of desire and interest, as well as sleep disorders, decreased emotional health and low physical performance,” he said.

He explained further that some patients with depression experience physical health problems even when no medical condition can be found.

“This is one of the most common symptoms of depression that we see in this region as some patients feel uncomfortable discussing their symptoms or seeking expert advice and as a result they remain untreated until they start to develop physical symptoms such as headaches, stomach aches and pain in different parts of the body,” he said. He added that depression can lead to even more severe complications when left undiagnosed or untreated such as self-harm or attempted suicide, as is the case in 10 to 15 percent of patients with untreated depression.“Developing chronic diseases such as a heart condition, diabetes, gastroenterology diseases, renal failure, and cancer can also be a factor which can lead to depression.

An integrated team of psychologists and psychiatrists is available at HMC to offer care and support to such patients across HMC’s network of hospitals,” Dr. Al Abdulla stated. Dr. Al Abdulla highlighted the importance of early diagnosis of depression and urged all members of the public not to hesitate to seek medical advice and treatment when suspecting a mental health issue. “HMC’s Mental Health Service offers a 24l7 service to patients of different age groups. We have comprehensive programs for the treatment of different cases of depression using a holistic approach that includes the use of antidepressant drugs, psychological therapy sessions with experienced psychologists. The combination of psychological therapy and drug-based treatment has proven to increase recovery rates to about 90 percent,” Dr. Al Abdulla said.

Dr. Manal Othman, HMC’s Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, said depression can also affect children.

“Children represent one to three percent of the total incidence of depression diagnoses. Girls are twice as likely as boys to suffer from depression, especially in their adolescence.

Depression in children can often have social triggers such as the breakup of their parent’s marriage, family problems or problems at school or with friends, and it can even be caused by genetic factors,” Dr. Othman said.

She said symptoms of depression in children usually present in the form of mood swings and violent behavior.

“Depression can affect the child’s performance at school and can even lead to self-harm or attempted suicide.”

Dr. Othman stressed the importance of providing psychological therapy, family support, and medication-based treatments to children suffering from depression to achieve the best possible outcome.

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

Hamad Trauma Center Hosts Delegation from the GCC Traffic Department

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amad Trauma Center at Hamad General Hospital recently received a delegation from the GCC Traffic Department as part of this year’s GCC Traffic Week initiative. Organized each year by the Ministry of Interior’s Traffic Department, this year’s events were held under the theme ‘Your Life is a Trust’. Activities held during the week aimed to foster cooperation between GCC government organizations and community groups to improve traffic safety in the region and to help prevent avoidable deaths and casualties caused by road traffic accidents.

GCC traffic delegation visits injured patients in HGH

GCC traffic delegation during their visit to injured patients in HGH

Dr. Hassan Al Thani, Head of Trauma and Vascular Surgery at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), as well as other senior clinicians and officials from the Corporate Communication Department’s Public Relations team, welcomed the delegation. In his welcoming speech, Dr. Al Thani stressed the importance of unifying efforts aimed at reducing injuries caused by road traffic accidents. He stated that traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death and disability in the region, adding that traffic accidents constitute about 35 percent of Emergency Department visits. Dr. Al Thani stressed the need to fully implement the National Traffic Safety Strategy to help prevent accidents and protect the safety of individuals through enforcing necessary traffic laws and legislation. He added that public education and provisions to ensure drivers are qualified are also required.

Mr. Ali Darwish, Assistant Executive Director of the Ambulance Service at HMC, highlighted the role of the Ambulance Service in caring for those injured prior to, and during, transport to hospital. He noted that technology advancements introduced into HMC ambulances have improved the level of care provided to the injured before they arrive at hospital. Dr. Wafa Al Yazeedi, Head of Medical Rehabilitation at HMC, discussed the rehabilitation services provided to accident victims, highlighting the expertise of staff working at the new Qatar Rehabilitation Institute (QRI) which started to offer some outpatient services late last year. She stressed the importance of taking necessary safety precautions to control road accidents and reduce the number of casualties. The delegation concluded their visit by meeting with patients who were victims of road traffic accidents.

Dr Hassan Al Thani speaking about injuries

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MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS

QU Health Cluster

celebrates World Hemophilia Day

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atar University’s (QU) Health Cluster (colleges of Health Sciences, Medicine and Pharmacy, and the Health Clinic) organized on April 17 a blood donation campaign in commemoration of the World Hemophilia Day 2017.

Organized in collaboration with the Blood Donor Center at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the campaign aimed to raise the awareness of QU faculty, students and staff about hemophilia and to collect approximately 150 units of blood.

On the sidelines of the campaign, QU Health Cluster hosted a seminar presented by Dr Asmaa Al-Marwani, Laboratory Director at Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital. Dr Asmaa Al-Marwani discussed the symptoms, diagnosis, protection and treatment options of hemophilia disease.

She also highlighted the various aspects of the reliable laboratory diagnostic tests and the coagulation studies that are available in Qatar in general and HMC in particular.

QU College of Health Sciences Assistant Professor of Hematology and organizer of the campaign Dr Ibrahim Mustafa noted that hemophilia is an inherited blood disorder which exhibits bleeding problem due to the lack of some clotting factors in patients’ blood. “Hemophilia is a quite rare disease and it can be treated with commercially available clotting factors”, he said. QU College of Health Sciences Teaching Assistant and also organizer of the campaign Mr Tameem Hadwan said: “The purpose of the campaign is to support hemophilia patients through promoting blood donation. It is considered one of the services that QU Health Cluster provides to the community to improve health of Qatar’s citizens.”

Q

QU CMED and Health Clinic celebrate Heart Saver Month

atar University College of Medicine (CMED) recently organized the “Hands-Only CPR” awareness campaign to commemorate the Heart Saver Month initiated by the American Heart Association (AHA).

Organized in collaboration with QU Health Clinic, the event engaged over 131 students, staff, faculty and visitors. Participants had the opportunity to learn the skills of Hands-Only CPR, a life-saving activity that calls people to act in critical situations. They practiced chest compressions on manikins and received instant constructive and

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corrective feedback. CMED Professor and Head of Clinical Education Dr Alison Carr praised the organizers and volunteers for their synergy and great efforts that resulted in a successful and valuable initiative. She noted that Hands-Only CPR is CPR without mouth-to-mouth breaths, recommended for use by people who see a teen or adult suddenly collapse in an

“out-of-hospital” setting. QU Health Clinic Head Dr Hafsa Hashad said: “We are definitely proud to be part of this initiative that serves the vision of the cluster to create a healthier Qatar.”

CMED Lecturer Dr Ayad Al Mosleh said: “By reaching out to people and conveying this important message, we help creating a more aware and safer

Q

Dr Shane Pawluk

community. People need to know that their actions can make a difference.”

Hands-Only CPR can save lives. As per the AHA, immediate CPR can double or even triple a person’s chances of survival. Most people who experience cardiac arrest at home, work or in a public location die because they do not receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene.

QU CPH achieves victories

at 6 Kuwait International Pharmacy Conference th

atar University College of Pharmacy (QU-CPH) Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy Dr Shane Pawluk and MSc student Amani Zaidan won first place in the Faculty Research and Best Presenter Student categories at the 6th Kuwait International Pharmacy Conference (6th KIPC 2017). Dr Shane Pawluk was awarded for his poster presentation entitled “Evaluating global communication in a structured education module: A comparison of student self-assessments with trained faculty and standardized patient assessments”, while Amani Zaidan won the Best Presenter Student Award for her poster presentation entitled “The impact of longterm medicine use: Validation of an Arabic version of the living with medicine questionnaire”. Amani Zaidan was supervised by CPH Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Coordinator of Continuing Professional Development for Healthcare Practitioners Dr Ahmed Nadir Kheir. Organized in conjunction with the Second Forum on Advancing Pharmacy Education in the GCC and Middle East, the 6th KIPC 2017 drew the participation of pharmacy experts and practitioners in the region.

Commenting on these achievements, QU CPH Dean Dr Mohammad Diab said: “CPH is committed to advancing pharmacy education in the Middle East, and to providing faculty and students with significant opportunities to showcase their hard work and talent. Congratulations to the winners. We wish them continuous success.”

Dr Shane Pawluk said: “The conference was an excellent opportunity to engage with faculty from other pharmacy schools in the Middle East and to showcase the academic research being conducted at Qatar University.”

Dr Ahmed Nadir Kheir said: “I am extremely proud of Amani’s achievement.

Assessing the impact of long-term medicine use on the patient’s life through an Arabic questionnaire is innovative and meaningful, and fills an existing gap.”

Amani Zaidan said: “It was a great opportunity to present our research and to meet researchers from different schools abroad. Winning the award reflects the amount and quality of efforts done at CPH and my supervisors.”

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ARTICLE

Robotics Epicenter Shifts from Japan to the United States in the Global Healthcare Industry

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nited States emerging as the development and application hub for both industrial and service robots, finds Frost & Sullivan’s Transformational Health team.

The pressing need to streamline workflows, improve the quality of healthcare, and provide round-theclock monitoring for the growing population of elderly and disabled patients is driving the global care assistant robots market.

Expected to grow at an impressive compound annual growth rate of 36 percent between 2017 and 2021, the market encourages technology developers and healthcare providers to collaborate, boosting the adoption of care robots for resolving operational workflow bottlenecks.

Declining costs of hardware and robot-enabling software will ensure sustainable market growth going forward, guaranteeing high return on investment (ROI) for early-stage investors. “Robotics, for both industrial and service use, is seeing a regional shift in technology innovation and advanced application; dominance has shifted from the early epicenter in Japan to the United States,” said Transformational Health Industry

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Analyst Harpreet Singh Buttar. “Many start-ups are emerging from Silicon Valley, where the future of robotics is being shaped.”

Global Care Assistance and Automation Robots Market, Forecast to 2021, a part of Frost & Sullivan’s Advanced Medical Technologies Growth Partnership Service program, examines the changing footprint of different types of care assistance robots, such as pharma automation, exoskeleton, daily care, transportation, telepresence, and rehabilitative.

The market is expected to generate $4,473.1 million by 2021, with new growth opportunities driven by: - Growing penetration of cognitive computing, mobile app control, and image or speed recognition - Widening scope for consolidation within healthcare segments - Shift to fee-for-value model Successful collaboration, seamless integration of robots within hospital environments, and first-mover advantage are the core strategies enabling

top contenders such as Cyberdyne, iRobot, Aethon and Swisslog to stay ahead. Two factors restraining widespread adoption of care assistance robots are high costs of ownership and lack of awareness about the reliability of these systems in critical treatment processes such as surgery.

Real-life demonstration of the efficiency of these robots is helping address the first issue. Manufacturers and healthcare organizations must work together to develop robotic solutions that will provide users the best benefits at the lowest risks.

“Rise in demand for hospital telepresence robots is principally due to increasing use of telemedicine, whereby off-site physicians communicate in real time with on-site patients through robots,” observed Buttar.

“As competition is expected to increase in the coming years, finding the right type of partner for the right type of robotic technology in any segment will be crucial to gain early leadership and traction in this market.”

ARTICLE FEATURES . Robotics

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NEWS

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