The total GCC healthcare market was estimated to be US$38.5 billion in 2019. Frost & Sullivan had originally forecasted it to become US$41.1 billion in 2020. However, post COVID-19, the market dynamics have changed significantly, and the current projections highlight that the market will reportedly witness a -2 per cent growth rate in 2020 and reach US$38.5 billion. In 2021, the market is expected to grow by 1 per cent and reach US$39.7 billion.

Omnia Health Insights spoke to Reenita Das, Transformational Healthcare Senior Vice President and Partner at Frost & Sullivan, who discussed the current trends being witnessed in the GCC healthcare market and how the region has tackled challenges as compared to the West.

Recent findings from Frost & Sullivan highlighted that Pacific China is already in the recovery stage and things are normalising in most places. But on the other hand, in the U.S. and Europe, the rate of recovery is still quite slow.

Das said: “We're looking at recovery only getting into positive GDP next year in quarter one, making this year pretty dismal for those two parts of the world. However, in the Middle East, the recovery has been steadier and will get better primarily by the end of 2020.”

Unfortunately, hospitals have taken a hard hit – their cash flow and liquidity are some of the major concerns, said Das. “The market is going to slow down this year by almost negative nine per cent and might come into shape in 2021 getting close to where it was in 2019. So, if you think about the hospital market in the GCC, it is going to be slow and then go up next year,” she explained.

For private hospitals, orthopaedic procedures are big-ticket items and for now, it has stopped. Also, infection control measures have not been the best since the pandemic started, which has led to staff being infected and there are not enough healthcare workers to treat because of that.

Digital health

Das highlighted that while the medical technologies market has also seen a slump, projections estimate that it will see a three per cent increase in growth next year. Also, the pharmaceutical industry is witnessing growth thanks to the demand for diagnostics.

According to Das, one of the worst-hit areas has been the medical imaging market. The reason for this is largely because elective procedures have stopped and there is less demand for the equipment. However, post-COVID-19 the demand is going to surge again, and hospitals might not be able to manage the workload. This will lead to an emerging trend in the future where hospitals will frequently collaborate with health tech companies.

“We feel that there's going to be a lot of radiologist burnout and interpretation of skills might be affected in the way that they are looking at the data,” she added. “This is where teleradiology will play a key role as it will help to increase volume and procedures during the rebound time, as it will make more use of digital tools such as AI and informatics.”

Comparison between U.S. and GCC markets

Digital health is forecasted to grow by next year to around 10 per cent due to the investment that needs to happen in terms of telehealth due to COVID-19. The growth rate in the U.S. for telehealth is 66 per cent. Reportedly, telehealth visits have gone up by 200 per cent in the last one month in the country.

Das explained that in order to see how the GCC has fared compared to the U.S. and Europe, the first thing is to look at gaps in managing critical care market resources. “We find that in terms of this, the GCC has not had it as bad,” she said. “For example, KSA and the other countries have a large focus on critical care beds in rural centres compared to the U.S. Because of that they're being able to access the population much quicker.”

Another area of comparison is ventilators and their utilisation and availability. “The U.S. has an install base of only 80,000 ventilators. Unfortunately, right now, the demand is half a million – it’s a huge deficit. The advantage GCC countries have is that 60 to 70 per cent of the patients who are admitted to the hospital require some form of ventilator support.

Therefore, I think their ability to satisfy ventilator needs are much higher than others. The region has also done a great job when it comes to testing,” she highlighted.

However, she said that the areas that the GCC has not done well is supply chain. This can be attributed to the fact that the region is a big importer when it comes to medical equipment.

Another area is building the infrastructure outside the hospital. In the region, everything is done in the hospital and as a result, it's become a big bottleneck for the GCC countries. The home is still not considered to be a testing site in the region. This has led to a huge volume of patients who need help but cannot get access and have to go to hospitals for everything. But due to the fear of catching the infection, no one wants to visit hospitals, and this might affect possible revenues. “I think that the business model has to change. In the future, this would definitely be a good way to look at how countries are performing when compared to other parts of the world,” she added.

With overstretched resources and not being able to support chronic disease patients, there is an urgent need to build infrastructure outside the hospital. Frost & Sullivan projects that by next year, 20 per cent of patients will start doing some form of virtual visits in the KSA and UAE.

Moreover, Frost & Sullivan predicts that virtual visits in the GCC are set to increase by 14 per cent. Also, the clinical decision support tools and remote patient monitoring will be a US$3 billion market by 2021 in the region.

Reenita Das

COVID-19 Growth opportunities

Das shared that there are three big growth opportunities for the GCC region. These include virtual care solutions such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring and wearables.

“These are three big markets for investment that organisations should look at. For instance, the whole concept of a waiting room is going to change in the future and how can the industry look at that as an opportunity. Also, how can they create an ICU command centre and do telly ICU monitoring? That's another big area where investment needs to be.”

She said that this is termed as the hub and spoke model. The heart is going to be the centre of the hospital and the scope models revolve around it. For instance, whether it's surgeries, mental health clinics, geriatric services, etc., there needs to be more drive around digital technologies.

“The reality of the day is that digitisation needs to happen. If we are not doing it there's going to be no way that hospitals are going to survive in the future.”

Nonetheless, in terms of digital health, there has been a lack of digital infrastructure policy and framework. Telemedicine still very weak, in part, due to cybersecurity threats that continued to rise last year. The biggest challenge today is how to build that framework. How do you create policies that enable patients to access their records and see people through a video call? Those systems have to work, in India for example, telehealth and video visits have increased dramatically. Also, countries such as Germany, Australia, UK, have all set these developments in motion.

The GCC countries have invested a lot in digital health on hospitals, be it in terms of administrative or clinical IT. With the onset of COVID-19, the region has also invested in terms of remote monitoring, telehealth and wearables. Das shared that now they need to focus on building infrastructure for the management of chronic diseases effectively through these technologies.

Impact on life sciences

In the GCC, there has been a dip in the in vitro diagnostic testing market due to COVID-19. Also, people with chronic diseases who were previously having tests done every one or two months have stopped getting these done. Moreover, clinical trials have also stopped completely.

A recent finding by Frost & Sullivan found that in the UAE and KSA alone prescriptions had decreased by 8 million, which means that these patients are not adhering to their prescriptions and might end up facing serious issues in the future.

However, one of the biggest growth opportunities for the industry will be in point of care testing.

In conclusion, she said: “I would say this has been a watershed moment for the healthcare industry. In my view, COVID-19 has changed healthcare forever. It's almost like we had a war. But unlike a regular war, it was calm and sharp, so we don't even know who our enemy is. When it comes to vaccines and treatments, the whole global scientific community has come together and is working very hard.

“However, it's also shown us that the current system is inadequate to cope with any emergency or adversity. It's shown us that we need help from outside the industry and healthcare companies cannot do this alone. We need help in terms of digital transformation. Therefore, we need companies from outside that are the experts to come in, as they will be able to transform the industry much faster.”

3D printing has seen a surge in popularity owing to the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Joining the crisis response efforts is Stratasys, a long-established global leader in additive manufacturing headquartered in the US. One of the biggest 3D printing companies in the world, it appears their reach knows no bounds - their 3D printing recently produced parts certified for use on the International Space Station.

Today, the Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem comprises 3D printers, materials, software, expert services, and on-demand parts production, and these have been made available to fight the pandemic. Through the launch of a web page, organisations can request 3D printed products to help with the crisis, offer capacity, or request printers or material.

Stratasys has also responded in additional ways.

A coalition of companies and universities assembled by the company to produce face shields leveraging 3D printers now numbers about 150, for instance - a list that includes names such as Medtronic and Boeing. The coalition is serving the needs of nearly 100 different health systems, covering hospitals, clinics, academic medical centers, and nursing homes.

In Europe, University Hospital Trust (AP-HP) in Paris purchased and installed 60 Stratasys F123 industrial 3D printers in late March to create an in-house rapid response supply chain. The printers were used to manufacture masks, face shields, electrical syringe pumps and respirator valves, with a plan also in place for future usage.

Pandemic aside, dozens of hospitals in Europe are now using the company’s printers in-house, and requests continue to come in from different countries. Stratasys expects interest to continue into next year.

Interest would be stronger still, but for a major challenge: reimbursement. Studies show that the absence of reimbursement policies in nations worldwide is a barrier to growth.

Speaking to Omnia Health Insights, Arnaud Toutain (right), Medical Manager at Stratasys EMEA, explained that hospitals are unsure who will pay, with the expectation of the US market. In 2019 the American Medical Association (AMA) approved four reimbursement codes for 3D printed surgical models and tools.

Specifically, the US codes cover reimbursement for individually prepared anatomical models made up of components with different materials and colours; and for 3D printed cutting or drilling tools based on patient imaging data.

The Stratasys spokesperson added that further reimbursement initiatives three to five years from now would result in an “explosion” in the adoption of 3D printed models.

Middle East interest in functional 3D medical models

Reimbursement aside, there’s another reason to be optimistic: innovation that enables medical institutions to create patient-specific 3D medical models to help plan complex procedures.

Stratasys recently launched a platform, the J750 Digital Anatomy Printer, that is designed to replicate real tissue response. An evolutionary step beyond the traditional visual model, the printer enables interaction with materials that mimic real human tissue and bone.

Describing how this differed from medical devices, Toutain stated that printing anatomies requires capabilities such as multiple colours, including transparency, and materials. Rather than engineers and scientists, their end users are radiologists and surgeons.

To date, digital materials have been developed for bones (BoneMatrix), soft organs (TissueMatrix) and vascular models (GelMatrix) in partnership with medical device manufacturers, world-class research institutions, hospitals and medical personnel.

Their realism is such that fine vascular structures, for example, can be created down to a single millimetre in internal diameter and in wall thickness.

The high accuracy of these models make them ideal for surgery training. Any manner of interactions are possible, from cutting to drilling and catheter insertion, as if the 3D printed parts were the real thing. As with real biological parts, their printed version can be safely disposed of after one time use.

Toutain revealed that while established surgeons prefer to interact with physical models that they can touch, as opposed to a simulated version, 3D printing can actually complement technologies such as VR - a training provider may have both.

Adoption is expected primarily by medical device companies and academic medical centres.

There is also strong potential in the Middle East. Training providers have demonstrated interest owing to complications in shipping anatomical parts from animals such as pig hearts to the region. Instead of an animal heart, the J750 Digital Anatomy Printer can produce a model that replicates very fine human anatomy, such as cordae tendinae, valve leaflets and annuli.

Toutain is confident about future possibilities. Through mixing resins, new digital materials can be created, giving rise to endless configurations.

“We’re already quite advanced with the technology, “ he stated. “Now it’s all about the materials we’re able to print. It’s all about time.”

Over the past decade, we have witnessed a radical transformation within the global healthcare industry driven mainly by emerging technologies. We live in an era today where technology is enabling doctors and caregivers to improve healthcare and patients’ quality of life and their experience ultimately.

Omnia Health Insights spoke to Dr. Khaled Aboeldahab, who is the Medical Director at NMC ProVita, to get his take on the wider impact of technology on healthcare delivery as well as its role in the field of rehabilitation.

How is technology reshaping healthcare delivery?

With advances in interconnected medical devices, electronic health records, 3D imaging, telehealth and wearable devices, technology today is making the delivery of healthcare more efficient and more effective. Technology has made it possible for patients to use portable devices to monitor their vital signs, use portable oxygen machines, get diagnosis remotely and achieve tasks that they couldn’t do before.

Telehealth apps, for example, can reduce the need for patients to travel thousands of miles to visit a doctor. Mobile diagnostics, which allows health professionals to send test results from the field, would give citizens in remote areas access to speciality care professionals in other countries in real-time.

Also, the convergence of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) is helping deliver instant access to patient information, derive insights from patients’ data and behaviour, which is dramatically helping improve patient treatment and experience.

How does technology impact the field of rehabilitation?

We are witnessing the same transformation in rehabilitation centres. Technology today is being implemented to improve patient’s quality of life, allowing patients to do tasks that they cannot do because of certain disabilities or degenerative diseases. Post-acute rehabilitation is typically a temporary stopping place on a patient’s journey home from the Intensive Care Unit. The goal of the rehabilitation centre is to help patients achieve cognitive, physical and speech therapies depending on their case and needs, help improve their quality of life and lead an independent life as much as they can.

Digital technologies, for example, provide an opportunity to move musculoskeletal care to the heart of value-based healthcare. The technologies we have today, and those I see emerging from start-ups, are more than capable of changing musculoskeletal care.

These digital tools contribute to the promise of value-based healthcare – improving patient outcomes while allowing greater cost-effectiveness. Digital health has to deliver both of these elements if it is to be adopted widely.

Dr. Khaled Aboeldahab

 

Can you give some real-life examples of how technology is used in rehabilitation?

Think of rehabilitation after a knee or hip replacement. The six weeks after surgery are crucial to the patients’ quality of life after they recover. A major challenge, particularly in older patient populations, is patient compliance with physiotherapy.

One of the solutions is to use wearable devices with sensors that give biofeedback to patients on whether they are bending their knee correctly or whether their mobility has improved. It can become like a “game”, making them more likely to stick to exercising.

Another key modern technology that we have allows paralysed patients to control their surrounding environment through glasses or computers. Eye-tracking and gaze interaction-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices that help improve the lives of individuals with disabilities by enabling them to communicate, control their environment and gain greater independence through their eyes.

As patients become more conscious consumers of healthcare, how is this changing the way healthcare is delivered?

The consumerisation of medical information has also changed the landscape of patients today. Now with mobile devices at their fingertips, patients are more empowered than ever before. Phone applications is a great example of how technology is helping seniors and caregivers. Using a smartphone, seniors, for example, can keep track of their medication, heart rate, and location in case a patient has memory loss.

These are just few examples from the vast benefits that technology is enabling rehabilitation centres. We are already seeing the adoption of these latest technologies here in the UAE, and patients are experiencing how technology is helping transform their lives.

American Hospital Dubai, part of Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, has announced the launch of the first artificial intelligence (AI) research centre in the region in partnership with global healthcare technology company Cerner. The AI research centre aims to leverage Cerner’s electronic health records (EHR) data along with its clinical AI and advanced data analytics tools to ultimately create centres of excellence for oncology, infectious diseases, and bariatric medicine.

The AI research centre is set to use big data analytics and machine learning capabilities to support data-based clinical research activities and data-driven operational improvement projects. Moreover, the AI research centre will focus on two key projects: enabling home health experiences and enhancing care management related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sherif Beshara, chief executive officer, Mohamed & Obaid Al Mulla Group, said, “We are proud to collaborate with Cerner on this new landmark initiative for the region. Together, we share the vision and strategy of the UAE Government and rulers to use the power of AI to help minimise the burden of chronic diseases, ultimately for the welfare of our citizens and residents. We also relate closely to the Government’s mission to fully integrate AI into medical and security services. This initiative takes us one step closer to our objective: to continue to redefine a patient-centric health care delivery system, thereby, empowering individuals to proactively manage their health.”

AI: A promising approach

Innovative use of data through AI is a promising approach for making significant progress in the areas of virtual medicine, population health management, innovative use of data analytics and visualisation as well as advanced clinical decision support. These developments may have significant positive influences on the individual’s health journey. 

“We are privileged to partner with the American Hospital Dubai. This AI research centre initiative will not only further enhance AHD’s response to the COVID-19 crisis but, more importantly, equip AHD with cutting-edge technologies to redefine health and care in the new post-COVID-19 pandemic era,” said Alaa Adel, managing director, Cerner Middle East and Africa.

Enhanced experience

As part of enabling new and improved home health experiences, the virtual medicine concept will provide smart and convenient services to patients, such as telemedicine, video, and phone visits, from anywhere. Remote patient monitoring using connected devices that are integrated with the patient’s health portal and accessible by caregivers will further enhance this experience.

The AI research centre will also allow American Hospital Dubai to leverage big data analytics to better understand the healthcare needs of the UAE population. This will empower the hospital to create personalised care plans, predict disease courses and intervene earlier using risk assessment models incorporated into the EHR.

“We are expected to launch the Centre over the next three to six months. Cerner has a wealth of experience in healthcare information technology and data analytics worldwide, and the timing of the Center could not have been better given the challenging times we are all experiencing during this global pandemic,” Beshara added.

In paediatric facilities all over the world, little ones sometimes have to go through necessary but painful procedures every day. Scary enough for adults, a trip to the hospital can be an even more daunting experience for children and cause them to be anxious or depressed. With unpleasant tests to be carried out and strict visiting rules, there is little that can be done to distract and entertain young patients.

Thankfully, technology is here to the rescue! Today, mixed reality solutions such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are available to ensure a visit to the hospital doesn’t turn into a dreadful experience for kids. From supporting clinical staff to patient engagement, VR & AR solutions are gaining traction globally. These immersive options let the children become an active participant in a virtual world by captivating the audio, visual and tactile senses.

Recent research has found that when someone is fully immersed in a VR experience, they release endorphins, and these can reportedly reduce the patient’s subjective pain. While children undergo procedures such as getting a cast on, blood tests or chemotherapies, VR can be a handy tool that can help them cope with the uncomfortable or painful experience by keeping them focused on discovering new worlds, thereby, reducing discomfort.

What is VR?

Reports have defined VR as a “relatively new tool of human-computer interactions for a human becoming an active participant in a virtual world”. This mixed reality solution first came to light in the second half of the 90s mainly for military exercises. However, with the continuous advancement in technology, it is now considered as an important therapeutic tool. In fact, in scientific literature one of the best-known uses of VR is for treating phobias and social disorders.

Moreover, VR is now an important asset when it comes to training and has become an important step between theoretical and practical preparation. Head-mounted visors that can be connected to a personal computer or linked to a mobile phone have become synonymous with VR. It makes it possible to create specific environments by controlling the different elements within it and also allows for interaction with other people within the same virtual reality.

The benefit of using VR in paediatric care is that it shields children’s eyes from the procedure. By being engrossed in the game, even if they were to look at their arm, for instance, during a procedure, it would only change the view of the game. The benefit of this technology is that as soon as you put on a pair of VR goggles, you are instantly immersed in the virtual environment.

Gamified healing

At Arab Health 2020 earlier this year, a U.S.-based company Primer VR along with its partner, UAE-based Symed (a Pharmatrade company), made its debut at the show. The company displayed “Roomi”, a virtual and augmented reality app that aims to comfort, educate and reassure injured children aged between 6-12 years that are awaiting treatment for broken bones or muscular damage.

Combining the use of VR in hospitals and clinics, with an at-home AR app for continued recovery, Roomi blends virtual and augmented reality with animation and creative design, allowing hospitals to provide paediatric engagement while alleviating the anxiety children and parents face both in hospitals and at home.

The Roomi-verse includes characters such as Roomi, a doctor rabbit with a jetpack who flies in to treat his patients; a bear called Ladder, who has lost hair from chemotherapy; Lifeboat, a chameleon with a prosthetic tail; and Lamp, an injured glow-worm.

Characters from Roomi-verse

The app is the vision of award-winning filmmaker Elia Petridis, who is also the CEO/Creative Director of Primer VR. He told Omnia Health Magazine: “Our experience at Arab Health was great and we received a lot of traffic and interest from visitors. We seem to have struck a chord with these characters. They seem to speak to people. People are definitely seeing the value and are having enriching experiences with these crazy characters. I am a storyteller and got on-board great animators to tell this story with me.”

The story, animation, and immersive experience of this paediatric edutainment app have been custom-built and medically vetted to aid young patients in the healing process, relying on empathic characters and accurate information, portrayed in an immersive world. Moreover, it has been designed to be playful and language agnostic, offering a calm and inviting atmosphere.

Elia Petridis at Arab Health 2020

When asked about how the idea for Roomi came about, Petridis said that he wanted to solve a very old problem with a very new technology. He shared: “I have myself been familiar with hospitals and waiting rooms and I thought that it would be a nice product to make where children could start to think about something positive while waiting to get treated. Animation in VR is quite magical. Hospitals are an anxious setting and I wanted to translate that into something fun to look forward to. I thought that immersive technologies such as VR and AR stood a chance of really doing that.”

He highlighted that his team came up with the name because Roomi the rabbit could be like a kid’s roommate and is also as a homage to Rumi the poet. “The idea is that we are as simple and as beautiful as his poetry. The lesson that we teach is simple even if the procedure is complex and is something that can connect with age groups of 6 to 12-year-olds because they process things simply,” said Petridis.

Currently, Roomi has been developed to assist kids in getting casts and hopes to expand into blood tests, chemotherapy, autism, and dentistry.

While the experience is delivered through a film shown on headsets in hospital waiting rooms, at home, Roomi visits these children in their real-world through an AR application that can be launched from phones and tablets, providing continued companionship and social interaction during the healing process.

Petridis explained: “Children first experience Roomi on the headset at the hospital and then when they go home with the cast there is an AR filter sticker stuck on it. At home, all they need to do is tap the Roomi app, point it at the sticker, and the characters come to life. The characters can interact with them by asking things like “does it itch?”, “How are you doing?”. It can also get other kids to come and sign the cast online. Therefore, digital interaction causes human interaction and you can keep those digital signatures for life as opposed to losing them when the cast comes off. It becomes memorabilia. You turn something that has been full of anxiety so far into something that is commonplace and nothing to worry about. There is also a countdown with the characters reminding the child how many days are left till the cast comes off! It becomes gamified healing.”

According to Petridis, a lot of VR that currently exists in healthcare has been distraction therapy, while some have been teaching or assessment tools. “Usually VR for children is riding a roller-coaster, watching dolphins or looking at fireworks, which you can do now on YouTube anytime,” he said. “With Roomi, the goal was to create a one-of-a-kind, tailor-made educational solution that is engaging for children. The thing that is making me the happiest is that the kids are connecting with the characters and the world. They seem to love it and have responded positively to it. We are igniting their imagination.”

Pharmatrade and SyMed will reportedly be delivering the application to care networks across the region. Petridis highlighted: “Our first market to enter will be the UAE. We are still assessing the business model from the data we have amassed and are hoping to enter the market in the next few months.”

In the future, Primer VR hopes to expand immersive technology through trials and clinical study. “Roomi is starting to build communities and is connecting children that have the same malady. They can find each other through the app and on social media, and it also allows their parents to connect,” he concludes.

International initiatives

In recent times, renowned institutions globally have started to use immersive technology for therapeutic, educational, and entertainment purposes. Below are a few examples:

Stanford Children’s Health: Paediatric specialists at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in the U.S. are implementing innovative uses for immersive VR and AR technologies. Through the hospital’s Childhood Anxiety Reduction through Innovation and Technology (CHARIOT) programme, it is one of the only hospitals in the world to have VR available on every unit to help engage and distract patients undergoing a range of hospital procedures. The team is currently piloting virtual reality experiences, new tablet-based apps and interactive bedside projector-based games.

Sheffield Children’s: This hospital in the UK has launched a virtual reality app that allows children awaiting surgery to explore the hospital’s waiting area and operating theatre and get prepared for their visit all from their own home. The Little Journey smartphone app has animated doctors, nurses and anaesthetists to show children around the hospital and explain what happens when they come to the hospital for surgery. Characters such as a koala nurse and a rhinoceros doctor pop up to answer questions and talk through what happens in each area.

Reshaping paediatric care

It is only a matter of time before VR and AR technologies receive widespread adoption across paediatric hospitals and also become a recommended tool for at-home rehabilitation. These immersive technologies are reshaping patient experiences. However, its best feature is its ability to let children be children, even during the toughest times of their lives.

Abu Dhabi-based Amana Healthcare, part of Mubadala’s network of healthcare providers, recently gained recognition by the U.S. Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) with three-year certification for its Home and Community Healthcare Programme. The Commission is an international, non-profit organisation founded in 1966 to assist and assess healthcare providers with a particular focus on post-acute services.

Amana Healthcare offers a wide range of services, including many not commonly found in the region, such as paediatric early intervention, dementia, palliative, and equality of care.

“Given the rate of stroke, trauma and complex medical illness in the UAE, there is a clear need for high-quality post-acute care services such as specialised rehabilitation, long-term care and home-based healthcare,” says CEO of Amana Healthcare, Mark E. McGourty. “Post-acute services are critical to an effective continuum of care – a healthcare model where patients can journey seamlessly between hospitals, clinics, community-based services and specialised post-acute services, as their needs change on the road to recovery.”

Continuum of care

A well-developed continuum means patients with complex medical needs, or those who have suffered traumatic or life-altering events or illnesses, can get the level of care they need, when they need it and in the most appropriate clinical setting. They spend less time in acute care, which reduces costs and leaves hospitals with more beds for inbound patients.

According to Amana’s Director of Clinical Operations for Home Healthcare, Teresa Quinn, the certification also comes in parallel to Amana’s efforts and support to Abu Dhabi’s defence against COVID-19. Amana’s home healthcare team spearheaded the Remote Care Programme in collaboration with the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi that provides asymptomatic COVID-19-positive patients with home visits for testing and clinical oversight.

“One of the things that sets us apart from other providers is our range of expertise,” Quinn explains. “Our caregivers are not just dedicated and compassionate, but also highly-trained in specialised areas like home infusion services, home ventilation, rehabilitation and specialised wound care – including negative wound pressure therapy and lymphoedema management.”