UAE Press: The Middle East Needs Digital Medicine

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 06th Dec, 2021) A local daily has said that perhaps the most enduring effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on medicine will be how treatment is accessed. Lockdowns and the need for social distancing put unprecedented barriers between patients and medical professionals. Faced with this challenging situation, tele-medicine is showing its early potential.

"The UAE is set to reach an important milestone on the journey towards a high-tech health sector. Last week, the Ministry of Health and Prevention, along with the Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health, Emirates Health Services and Dubai Health Authority, joined forces to create the Riayati platform, a national medical records database that will improve patient care and make medical services more efficient," The National said in its editorial on Monday.

It is a key moment in the country's progress towards what Abdulla bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, calls a 'unified E-healthcare system', the paper said.

The platform will allow doctors quick access to patients' medical records, speeding up diagnoses and prescriptions. Patients will be able to take greater control of their care and see which bodies and professionals have access to their records. A unified digital infrastructure for medical data helps patients, healthcare providers and medical institutions in a country with ample choice for where to get treatment.

The paper went on to say , "High-tech medicine has proven its value throughout the region. Israel, for instance, rolled out the fastest COVID-19 vaccination programme in the world, thanks in large part to its highly centralised and digitised healthcare system and patient records database, data from which was shared to help manufacturers gauge the efficacy of their vaccines. A similarly efficient system helped the UAE build early capacity by quickly opening field hospitals and, crucially, a vast testing and vaccine infrastructure. As a result, the UAE has among the highest vaccination rates in the world."

"Fortunately, technology is starting to give doctors ways to access even the most isolated patients. Appointments over the internet might not be perfect, but they are far better than nothing. And when even that proves challenging, the rise of "doctorless" healthcare apps is another reason to have optimism. The challenges facing the middle East's healthcare systems have been long in the making, but the innovation being pursued in centres of excellence such as the UAE could be of major significance in a region where healthcare's prognosis is still poor," the Abu Dhabi-based daily concluded.