What have been the biggest disruptors to the healthcare sector in the last five years, and how has Leader Healthcare Group adapted to these significant changes?
A disruption in the healthcare sector means changing the way disease is treated. The promise of disruption presented by technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices, etc., has been a work in progress in the healthcare sector so far. While industries such as supply chain logistics, aviation, telecommunication, retail and banking have been transformed through technology-enabled disruption, the same is not the case with the healthcare sector. The scenario is now poised for change, and the healthcare sector is ready to embrace it.
The single biggest disruption in healthcare is slated to be Preventive Targeted Therapeutics or Preventive Precision Medicine. It will allow practitioners to intervene before a disease manifests itself, to identify a disease-prone state of health and develop a precise treatment programme based on the unique genetic-environmental-lifestyle profile of an individual.
Leader Healthcare Group has forged global connections to place these powerful tools at the service of healthcare providers across the GCC countries. The practitioners of the near future will be equipped with the tools of Health Threat Intelligence in a way that has not been possible until recently. Vision 2021 National Agenda emphasises the importance of preventive medicine. It seeks to reduce cancer and lifestyle related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases to ensure a longer, healthy life for citizens. The Health Threat Intelligence Programme introduced by Leader Healthcare Group in collaboration with Dr. Giuseppe Mucci at BioSciences Genomics addresses these goals and is being showcased at the Leader Healthcare booth at Arab Health 2020. It incorporates genomics, cell biology, molecular biology and precision medicine to serve the objective of a longer, healthy life for citizens.
Helixmoker is a cancer prevention programme within the Health Threat Intelligence Toolkit. It is designed to reduce the prevalence of smoking. We know that smokers have the highest likelihood of developing lung cancer. But why do some smokers develop lung cancer, while others don’t? The reason is that the body’s ability to repair DNA damage varies from person to person, and lung cancer manifests after years of sustained DNA damage. Once the disease manifests, it is too late for a full reversal. The Helixmoker Programme is an assessment of genes associated with lung cancer combined with precision medicine or targeted therapy. The assessment reveals whether the smoker’s body is able to repair DNA damage caused by smoking. If DNA damage is progressive, the smoker will have the choice to quit smoking before the disease manifests itself. Thus, the smoker makes an informed decision in favour of quitting the habit.
How is the introduction of telemedicine, AI and other technological advancements affecting your work and the future of the business?
Ultra-reliable and super-bandwidth networks are required to facilitate time-bound wireless data transfer required by applications and tools such as Telemedicine, AI, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and IoT enabled medical devices.
The availability of 5G networks may provide the impetus for caregiving institutions to integrate these tools into traditional therapy models. Realistically, it is the availability of 6G networks that would empower healthcare providers to truly exploit the power of telemedicine. The purpose of telemedicine is to bridge gaps in access to healthcare. The 6th generation of wireless mobile-communication networks is expected to integrate satellites for global coverage. This translates to near-zero mobile network dead zones. So, an individual living on a mountain, forest or remote village would have access to medical care via telemedicine as easily as city / town residents.
Leader Healthcare Group has been one of the first solution providers to introduce Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality based learning solutions for medical and life sciences education across the GCC countries. Innovative solutions for healthcare education and therapy, are available as plug-n-play or turnkey solutions with the shortest possible turnaround time and learning curve. These solutions bear the stamp of leading companies worldwide – Microsoft, Virtual Rehab, 3D4 Medical, Body Interact, CAE Healthcare to name a few.
Arab Health 2020 will serve as the platform to unleash the power of AI in diagnostic imaging. Leader Group partners with Centre for Advanced Research in Imaging, Neurosciences & Genomics (CARING) to launch CARPL – a diagnostic and analytics platform to support faster, reliable and cost-effective diagnoses through medical imaging. CARPL places the ease and power of AI into the hands of radiologists and physicians, bringing comfort to patients who may have experienced a misdiagnosis, assurance to insurance providers who may have reimbursed in vain, and relief to caregiver institutions who may have encountered litigation arising from inaccurate diagnoses. CARPL can reduce the previously impossible task of parsing through millions of medical scans to the timeframe of a few days – thus overhauling the approach to public health and empowering policy makers towards monitoring of disease-burden in real-time, at a fraction of the cost.
The future of the business at Leader Group hinges upon integrating and aligning these solutions to the curriculum and learning journey of the students. Therefore, a team of project and learning specialists supports learning institutions towards needs assessment, requirements planning, curriculum integration and learning centre operations. The medical and life sciences graduate of the near future will seamlessly integrate the caregiving experience into the busier-by-the-minute schedules of an increasingly globe-trotting patient population.
How do you ensure that your products and services improve patient experience?
Leader Healthcare Group was established with a mission to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Our global connections and supply chain infrastructure attract the attention of innovators worldwide. Healthcare technologies that add value in unambiguous ways are cherry picked and supported with a platform to grow in the region. The business development teams travel extensively to source affordable, innovative solutions which support a patient’s journey towards health. This ensures that the business remains focused on improving patient experience.
