In recognizing the major accomplishments of healthcare practitioners in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi Health Services Co. (SEHA) has been honoured with an incredible four awards during this year’s Arab Health Achievement and Innovation Awards, hosted on January 26th at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Dubai. SEHA institutions were nominated in six of the eight award categories, and the company as a whole was the most decorated participant of the evening.
Tawam Hospital was the first SEHA organization recognized with the Excellence in Imaging and Diagnostics Award. Following that announcement was the presentation of the Excellence in Surgery Services Award to Mafraq Hospital. The Excellence in Patient Centred Care Award was then given to Al Corniche Hospital, with SEHA’s Ambulatory Healthcare Services then earning the Human Resource Development Award.
The ceremony itself is one of the key events sponsored during Arab Health Congress, the second largest healthcare exhibition in the world, which has been running throughout the week at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
“These awards and SEHA’s domination of the nominations are a most gratifying achievement for SEHA, our hospitals and our divisions,” commented Mr. Carl V. Stanifer, CEO of SEHA. “We are very pleased to have competed and to have been selected over strong contenders who—like us—are raising the bar of excellence for patients in the Middle East. These honours belong not only to SEHA, but all of our public and private partners, and are a reflection of the commitment to excellence shared amongst SEHA’s caring and professional employees. It is also further evidence that our vision to develop a quality, integrated healthcare system competitive with the best in the world is achievable.”
Arab Health organizers reported that over 200 submissions from 13 countries were received by the judging panel during this year’s Arab Health Awards program, which was organized into eight award categories with three institutions being shortlisted in each category. Out of the 24 total nominations, SEHA institutions received eleven nominations in six of the eight categories. Tawam Hospital—which is managed by SEHA—submitted five projects for consideration in five different award categories, all of which were shortlisted. In four of the eight award categories, SEHA hospitals or divisions received multiple nominations.
This year’s judging panel was made up of internationally-recognised individuals from a variety of industry sectors and disciplines, representing bodies such as Accreditation Canada, GE Healthcare and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“Each of these organizations has done a tremendous amount of work in their respective field,” comments John Hassett, Managing Director of Exhibitions at IIR Middle East. “The awards at Arab Health have inspired tremendous improvements in the industry, and the real winners are the patients served by these healthcare institutions.”
Since SEHA was formally established in early 2008, the organization has contracted with several international partners to help manage their healthcare system. Some of these partners include Johns Hopkins Medicine International and Cleveland Clinic Foundation, to name a few. In the last two years, six SEHA facilities—including Al Corniche Hospital and portions of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City—have received international accreditation or reaccreditation for creating and sustaining quality-control programs. These accreditations include Joint Commission International (JCI), and for the SKMC Cardiac Program, certification as a Level III Chest Pain Center, one of only 13 such accreditations in the world and the only program accredited outside of the United States.
SEHA is part of the Government of Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector reform initiatives and represents another step in the realization of the vision of HH Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE, to provide the people of UAE with healthcare services competitive with the best available in the world. Created by Emiri Decree #10 in April 2007, it is charged with managing and developing the curative activities of public hospitals and clinics in Abu Dhabi. SEHA enjoys a market share of about 80% of Abu Dhabi’s inpatient admissions and about 60% of its outpatient visits, operating a total of 12 hospitals, 62 ambulatory and primary healthcare clinics, and two blood banks in Abu Dhabi.
During Arab Health Congress 2010, more than 5,500 delegates and conference attendees are estimated to have participated in discussions around the Middle East healthcare market, which has been valued at around $80 billion per year.
