Tell us about your organization and its journey.

American Hospital Dubai was established in 1996 by the Mohamed & Obaid AlMulla Group to fulfil the group's aim of bringing American-standard excellence in healthcare to the UAE and the region. It is the flagship healthcare brand of the Mohamed & Obaid AlMulla Group. It is acknowledged as a premier healthcare institution, offering world-class and evidence-based primary, secondary and selected tertiary medical services.

American Hospital Dubai is defined by cutting-edge technology and innovations. All its physicians are American Board Certified or equivalent, delivering treatment and care in more than 40 medical and surgical specialities.
Our mission is to improve people's lives with the best quality healthcare through leadership in progressive medicine, with a vision to nurture healthier communities through research and innovation.

Since its inception, American Hospital Dubai has blazed a trail due to its commitment to excellence in healthcare, placing us in the vanguard of pioneering healthcare institutions in the region.

• We are the first hospital in the Middle East and the second in the world to be awarded the prestigious JCI accreditation in May 2000. 
• We are the first healthcare organization in the Middle East to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network (MCCN) in 2016 and the first hospital in the Middle East to bring a state-of-the-art computerized tomography (CT) scanner with reduced radiation dose requirements.
• American Hospital is a leader in complex multi-specialist disease care and treatment with its own cluster of regional Centers of Excellence in health specialities - Cardiac/Heart Health, Orthopedics, Cancer, and Diabetes, which are hubs of cutting-edge technology and evidence-based practices.
• In 2019, we signed a joint venture with Sweden-based Livio AB, the largest provider of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in Nordic countries, to open the most advanced fertility clinic for the UAE and the region. 
• In 2021, we signed a strategic partnership with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to set up the region's most advanced laboratory testing. 
• American Hospital places the highest value on medical research and innovation. It launched the region's first-of-its-kind Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Center in 2020 in partnership with Cerner, the well-known global healthcare company. 
• Our Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery (COERS) is accreditated by the US-based Surgical Review Corporation, the first private healthcare entity outside the US to gain this recognition.
• American Hospital Dubai launched the first and only autologous stem cell transplant department in Dubai last year, becoming the first private hospital in the UAE to offer in-house stem cell transplants of patients' stem cells without the need for a donor. 

How has the organization evolved to address the challenges of an ever-changing healthcare sector? Please list some accomplishments.

Healthcare is undergoing a rapid transformation, and American Hospital Dubai stayed ahead of the curve even before the pandemic struck.

1. We are in an era defined by patient expectations and new frontiers of medical technology. The diverse influences shaping patient expectations drive healthcare transformation and demand that healthcare entities go beyond reactive practices and embrace innovation, prevention, and predictive medicine. Our AI-led research centre is an example of our priorities. We invested in R&D in AI to create better solutions for humanity's health. 
2. American Hospital Dubai was founded to provide the highest value to the patient experience, delivering the best healthcare through the most efficient organizational processes. Our digital transformation partnership with Oracle Cloud Applications and Cerner Corporation integrates our business and clinical aspects for better efficiencies and enhanced patient experiences and clinical outcomes.
3. Robotic surgeries are the new medical normal for patient safety and enhanced outcomes. American Hospital was the first in Dubai to install the 4th generation da Vinci Robotic System in 2000, and we have performed over 1,000 robotic surgeries since then.
4. Complex diseases are an urgent healthcare priority, and the field is not expanding rapidly enough. American Hospital Dubai's Centres of Excellence are specialist hubs for complex disease management, providing cutting-edge care and setting regional benchmarks.
5. Healthcare is more interdependent than ever, so it must offer better value to patients through collaborative expertise. American Hospital Dubai partners with the world's best healthcare organizations and innovators to promote health for humanity.

Our partnerships with international names such as Mayo Clinic, Livio AB of Norway, Siemens Healthineers, RSS and UK-based CMR Surgical help us advance in treatments and education to deliver the best research-backed treatments. Legacy-building only gains value when it continues to have patients at its core; American Hospital Dubai chooses transformation keeping this in mind.

Give us an insight into your portfolio and solutions targeted at the Middle East.

Healthcare has acquired many dimensions that must cater to various issues to create a more significant positive shift in health outcomes to meet national targets.

Some key areas in focus:

• Investments in Training, Research, and Education or Capacity Building
• More Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to harness the benefits of technology
• Healthcare accessibility (digital healthcare, telehealth, remote monitoring, etc.)
• Innovative healthcare applications
• More emphasis on providing Predictive Care
• Home healthcare
• Data privacy policies and data analytics for treatment breakthroughs

American Hospital Dubai contributes to capacity building through research and training programs in collaboration with academia (universities, research institutions, and intern programs) to benefit the national and GCC levels. Research shows that the GCC is slightly lagging in the domain of knowledge acquisition and needs to continue to develop this area. 

Our education arm, the American Hospital Academic Institute (AHAI), aims to train more than 400 professionals in the healthcare sector to develop medical staff in the UAE and the region. Our partnership with Robotic Surgical Systems (RSS) and UK-based CMR Surgicals is the region's first robotic surgery training hub and educational academy. 

We are also an active player in the PPP arena, lending innovation to healthcare for a wider field of application, thus benefitting the region and globally.

What will you be showcasing at Arab Health 2023?

American Hospital Dubai has foundationally been about delivering the most satisfying patient experience, and everything we do pivots on it. Our breakthroughs across the healthcare spectrum are due to this commitment. We will give visitors insights into how we reach this goal year after year through innovation, application, and advanced processes.

We will showcase our expertise in crucial disease fields, complex surgeries, and disease management. Visitors will get a close look at our Robotic Centre of Excellence, a regional leader in minimally invasive surgeries, which has performed over 1,000 surgeries since its launch in 2020. We will also showcase our commitment to innovation through AI-led data analytics that improves care outcomes. 

Our Centres of Excellence in Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiology, Orthopedics, etc., are leaders in delivering the latest treatment methodologies, and Arab Health 2023 victors will learn why these are the region's cutting-edge hubs in transformative healthcare.

In addition to the above, what opportunities are you looking forward to at the upcoming event? 

I look forward to a symbiotic experience at Arab Health 2023, where American Hospital Dubai shows the world how it continues to raise the bar in patient-focused care and learn how global healthcare entities are charting their path to a more transformative model.

Every edition of Arab Health is a new door opening to opportunities, and the event is a powerful platform for knowledge transfer and exchanging ideas. It is a great occasion to witness new technologies, products, and developments and rub shoulders with international stakeholders in the healthcare industry.

Anything else you would like to add?

Healthcare is undergoing a redefinition due to a host of factors, not the least of which is the pandemic. Still, its central purpose remains the same: honoring a patient's ancient faith in the power of healing with new solutions. Today's healthcare must prepare for disruption and innovation to fulfil this purpose. We must work towards humanity's healthier future through timeless values such as compassion, a pioneering spirit and ethical care in tandem with the new merits of technology.

Our collective wellness depends on the state of our healthcare, and our responsibility is to keep this relationship thriving and strong.