The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has won two prestigious awards at the HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare Award Middle East 2020, which is organized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

The new achievement comes in line with wise leadership’s vision to enhance the country’s position among the world’s leading countries in the digital and smart healthcare field and reinforces the UAE’s pioneering position in world forums, indicators, and reports.

In the Outstanding ICT Innovation category, MoHAP came first through the ‘Newborn Hearing Screening’ project, which aims to deploy a universal and automated newborn hearing screening in all MoHAP maternity hospitals. The innovative system has been integrated with the Electronic Medical Record ‘Wareed’, while the ministry’s Pharmacy Outpatient Automation project was among the finalists for the same category.

The Ministry’s Stroke Golden Hour project was named the winner in the Outstanding ICT Achievement category. The project aims to standardize the clinical practices for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) according to international standards and to reduce the door-to-needle time (DTN), thus reducing the morbidity and mortality resulting from stroke.

Latest digital health standards

His Excellency Dr. Youssif Al Serkal, Director-General of the Emirates Health Services Corporation, highlighted the importance of this international recognition in a global forum that brings together major healthcare institutions in the world, something that clearly reflects the UAE's outstanding capabilities in the healthcare sector and helps strengthen the country’s status in the international health arena.

This comes as part of MoHAP’s strategy to deliver comprehensive and integrated healthcare services in innovative and sustainable ways and to develop health information systems in accordance with international practices.

Al Serkal asserted that the ministry is moving steadily towards further reinforcing the capabilities of the healthcare sector and achieving sustainability in health services through the development of medical policies, procedures, and protocols, thereby becoming among the world’s top innovative countries.

Attracting medical innovations

Lauding the distinguished performance of the teams that have taken part in this achievement, Al Serkal stressed that these efforts reflect MoHAP’s commitment to making a paradigm shift in its health services using state-of-the-art digital health standards and Artificial Intelligence (AI), enhancing the operational efficiency, improving patient experience, and attracting latest systems and smart solutions in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.

Concluding his remarks, Al Serkal shed light on the Ibrahim bin Hamad Obaidullah Hospital’s winning of the Diamond Award from the World Stroke Organisation (WSO), as the UAE's and GCC's first hospital to win this prestigious award, describing this recognition as a new testament to the UAE’s healthcare system efficiency and it also marks the outcome of its long-term investment in digital health infrastructure to improve healthcare approaches.

Enhancing healthcare technology

Dr. Kalthoum Al Baloushi, Director of MoHAP’s Hospitals Administration, said that this international recognition underlines the efficiency of MoHAP’s projects in healthcare technology and the outstanding hospitals management in the field of clinical practices automation.

“The Newborn Hearing Screening project is being used in all MoHAP maternity hospitals after it has been integrated with the existing Electronic Medical Record (Wareed),” she noted. Al Baloushi affirmed that early detection and relevant medical interventions are crucial to minimizing the impact of hearing loss on a child's development.

She pointed out that the Stroke Golden Hour project has achieved outstanding results in developing best medical practices for case management and focusing on prevention and rapid treatment to increase the chances of surviving within the first hour from the onset symptoms. This comes as part of the ministry’s strategy to drive positive change and improve quality of care and patient outcomes.