Latest innovations in cardiology care

Medical tourism in KSA

PABME 2010 Preview

Editor’s introduction

Welcome to the May issue ofMiddle East Hospital. In thisissue we look at the innovativeapproach to cardiology beingtaken by Philips Healthcarewith a range of technologiesdesigned to revolutionise imag-ing and diagnostics, treatmentof sleep disorders, and homehealthcare. We also profileBD; a company focused onimproving drug delivery, en-hancing the quality andspeed of diagnosing infec-tious diseases and cancers,

and advancing research,discovery and production ofnew drugs and vaccines.BD's capabilities are instru-mental in combating manyof the world's most pressingdiseases. Next month’sissue will be a special ex-tended edition focused onSaudi Arabia and it’s flour-ishing healthcare sector.

We will profile the majorhealthcare providers andcompanies operating inwhat is the region’s largestand most important medicalmarket. To find out moreabout upcoming issues andopportunities in the regionplease visit www.mid-

dleeasthospital.com

Guy Rowland, Editor

The Arab Hospital Middle East Hospital

Healthcare Industry News

KSA medical tourism

needs greater promotion

Saudi Arabia’s medical tourismhas tremendous potentials thoughmuch have to be done to promoteit, Ziyad Ahmad Bin Mahfouz,president - Elaf Group, a leader intravel and tourism industry, said.

“The local market itself offers vastopportunities. The number ofSaudis going abroad for medicaltreatment has decreased over thelast three years due to the down-turn and the availability of world-class medical services andfacilities in the Kingdom itself,” hesaid, noting that “there are alreadya number of hospitals and clinicspromoting medical tourism in theKingdom, mainly in Riyadh andJeddah. Complementing thesedevelopments is the constant ex-pansion of the country’s advancedhealth system.”

“However, there are some chal-lenges that need to be addressed,foremost of which is the lack ofoverseas marketing for the King-dom’s health sector,” Ziyad said.“Future promotions should focuson pediatrics, obesity and eyetreatments, which are mostsought after by foreigners. Localexpertise in stem cell and infertilitytreatment is also rapidly improv-ing,” he pointed out.

On the regional front, he said theGulf’s travel sector has fared farbetter than those in other parts ofthe world over the past two years,

so the potential for added capac-ity, especially in light of an ex-pected recovery in 2010, is stillstrong.

“I would like to note though, thatthe Kingdom has the advantageof being the only country in the re-gion which did not record declinesin Revenue Per Available Room(RevPAR), Average Daily RoomRate (ADR) or occupancy rate in2009. I again attribute this mainlyto the country’s thriving religioustourism business, which is alsothe main competitive advantageof KAIA as it is located close to thecities of Mecca and Medina, twoof the holiest places in Islam. Infact, the airport has a Haj Terminalspecially built to accommodateforeign pilgrims taking part in theannual Haj,” the amiable presi-dent of Elaf Group said.

Commenting on the expansion ofthe King Abdul Aziz InternationalAirport (KAIA), he said an impor-tant focal point is religious

tourism, as millions of people visitthe Kingdom each year to performthe Haj and Umrah rituals. Moreover, the Kingdom has beenable to combine the appeal of itstimeless desert environment andunique culture with its steadyprogress in areas such as educa-tion and technology, and this willbe important to filing in capacity,he observed.

He added that the primary mar-kets that support the airport ex-pansion is the Middle East ingeneral, and Morocco, Egypt andTurkey in particular, given thepopulation density of those states.Moreover, commenting on the on-line ticketing and its impact ontravel agents, Ziyad said thoughthe trend has become very popu-lar throughout the country be-cause of its simplicity andaccessibility, still majority of trav-elers prefer to purchase ticketsthrough travel agents. “There is avaluable level of trust in face-to-face transactions that still makesagencies the best option for mak-ing travel arrangements,” hepointed out.»

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Pact to boost pharmaceuti-

cal sector in KSA

The King Abdul Aziz City for Sci-ence and Technology (KAACST),the Industrial Cities Authority andthe Ministry of Health have signeda strategic agreement to boost thepharmaceutical sector in the King-dom.

Prince Turki Bin Saud BinMuhammad, Deputy President ofthe KAACST Research Institute,said the agreement is meant tounify efforts and build bridges forthe development and transfer ofstate-of-the-art technology.

In terms of the agreement the re-search centers at Ainyia, Khafjiand Qassim, affiliated to KAACST,would be transferred to a special-ist technical zone specializing inbio-pharmaceutical industries.Tawfeek Al-Rabea, Director Gen-eral of the Industrial Cities Author-

ity, said the authority’s strategycenters on the creation of techni-cal zones and specialized cities.These areas will be equipped withintegrated infrastructure designedaccording to the latest interna-tional specifications, to attract in-vestment and advancedtechnologies.

Meanwhile Dr. Abdullah Al-Oth-man, President of King Saud Uni-versity (KSU) in Riyadh, said theuniversity has launched a pack-age of electronic services. A newcompany specializing in the soft-ware industries, emanating fromthe Wadi Al-Riyadh Company forTechnology, has been created.

Engineer Abdul Aziz Al-Eraij, Di-rector of the Administration of theElectronic Gate and Services atKSU, said the gate’s website pro-vides full support to the blind andthose suffering from weak eye-sight.

Middle East to utilise new

technologies to lower

healthcare delivery costs

The application of technology inhealthcare is nothing new. How-ever, now, more than ever, it is adriver for change for patient caredelivery. How healthcare profes-sionals use technologies is goingto be a significant differentiatorbetween healthcare delivery or-ganisations around the region andit will define world-class patientcare in the 21st century.

The Healthcare Technology Appli-cations conference being heldfrom 2 – 3 of June 2010, duringthe Hospital Build Middle East Ex-hibition & Congress, will discussthe latest information on how touse technologies to lower health-care delivery costs, improve effi-ciencies in hospitals, reducemedical errors and streamline thepatient’s experience.

Speaking at the conference, DrRolf Ulrich Hartung, AssociateProfessor of Surgery at the DubaiMedical College, will explain howintegrated technology applicationssuch as ‘Patchless ControlledTechnology (PCT)’ will enhancesurgery management in the oper-ating room (OR).

“PCT is a system that controls alltechnological equipment in theOR without touching it,” he ex-plains. “The first of this kind oftechnology was the voice con-trolled technology such as theAEsop system and later on, theHermes. The new PCT technol-ogy does not rely on voice but onmovements of the hands and/or

face and eyes. This seems to bemuch more reliable than thevoice.”

Dr Hartung believes this technol-ogy can improve surgery in manyways. As well as improving controlof all equipment necessary forsurgery such as light source, elec-trocautery, air insufflators, irriga-tion pumps etc, it also reduces theworkload of the nurses. He says italso gives the opportunity for per-fect communication and docu-mentation and the surgeon canreview previous steps taken dur-ing the procedure and can eveninvolve mentors without the needto leave the operation.

While the PTC technology cur-rently only exists in prototype-form in Middle East, it will bemade available soon. “In the Mid-dle East the acceptance of newtechnology is extremely good.Dubai is one of the fastest grow-ing cities in the world and accept-ance and support of changes andrapid development are key char-acteristics of the region,” says DrHartung.

For more information about at-tending the Healthcare Technol-ogy Application conference takingplace during Hospital Build MiddleEast 2010, please call +971 4 3367334 or visit www.hospitalbuild-me.com.

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Philips Simplifies Cardio-

logy Care with Technologies

That Span The Entire Spec-

trum Of Patient Care

At this year’s annual meeting ofthe American College of Cardiol-ogy (ACC), March 14-16 in At-lanta, Royal Philips Electronicsshowcased its commitment tosimplifying cardiology patient careby highlighting a range of technol-ogy advancements. These careinnovations span diagnostic andimaging tools, intuitive informationmanagement systems, new tem-perature modulation therapies,solutions that bolster minimally in-vasive procedures and homehealthcare technologies.

"To cope with the growing de-mand for healthcare, healthcareproductivity must rise. For cardiol-ogy, that means focusing on theentire scope of diagnosing, treat-ing and managing cardiac dis-ease, rather than isolated silos oftechnology," said Joris van denHurk, vice president of CardiologyCare Cycles for Philips Health-care. "Philips portfolio of ad-vanced solutions on display atACC reinforces our focus on thecardiology care challenges facedby both physicians and patients.Philips offers innovative health-care technologies, inspired bycustomer insights, to simplify lifefor cardiac patients."

Philips focus on the full spectrumof cardiology care – from diagno-

sis and treatment to home moni-toring – to enhance patient care,includes:

Timely Diagnosis and Deci-

sions

Philips offers cardiac diagnosticsand imaging tools for timely triage,decision-making and treatmentplanning. This variety of innova-tive solutions allows clinicians toassess and diagnose cardiac con-ditions ranging from coronary ar-tery disease to congestive heartfailure to cardiac arrhythmias.

PageWriter TC70

This state-of-the-art cardiographfeatures the exclusive DXL 16-lead ECG algorithm. Additionally,it includes advanced ST segmentelevation myocardial infarction(STEMI) decision-support tools,

as well as updated gender, age,and lead-specific STEMI criteriathat meet the latestAHA/ACC/HRS recommenda-tions for acute ischemia and in-farction.

"We are using right chest andposterior leads and see true pa-tient benefits by diagnosing a hid-den MI that we may not havepicked up with a 12-lead ECG,"said Debbie Heinecke, R.N., man-ager of Non-Invasive Cardiologyat Blessing Hospital Quincy, Illi-nois.

The TC70 provides access to ad-ditional information that canspeed analysis and triage for anypatient experiencing acute infarc-tion and ischemia symptoms. Its1-2-3 operation lets clinicians per-form ECGs quickly.

Philips Healthcare: Cardiology innovations

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Imaging and Information Man-

agement Solutions

Philips’ imaging and cardiology in-formatics management solutionsplay a key role in helping toquickly diagnose and managecoronary artery disease and heartfailure. Some of the featured so-lutions at this year’s ACC include:• CX50, Philips compact portableultrasound that delivers premiumperformance outside the echocar-diography (echo) lab• microTEE, a transducer which isroughly one-third the size of pre-vious pediatric TEE transducers,provides images during interven-tional procedures • Brilliance CT portfolio’s CoronaryPlaque Analysis application, thenewest software application avail-able, which enables clinicians togain a better understanding of thedistribution and composition ofplaque inside coronary vessels• CVIS (Cardiovascular Informa-tion Management System), a so-lution that enables clinicians anddepartments to collect and aggre-gate cardiac care data• QLAB with Xcelera image man-

agement system, which supportsquantitative workflow allowingparametric display and extensivequantification of 2D and 3D echodata

Discovery to Treatment

InnerCool

Philips is the first and only com-pany to offer both endovascularand surface cooling and warmingsystems with the InnerCool familyof products to address the specificneeds of patients, hospitals, andclinical practices. Backed by morethan 10 years of research,demonstrating performance inmultiple clinical settings and appli-cations, Philips is leading the wayin advanced temperature modula-tion therapy with comprehensive,science-driven solutions.

The Philips InnerCool RTx En-dovascular System for coolingand warming provides advancedwhole body temperature modula-tion therapy in a closed-loop sys-tem from the inside out. The

Philips InnerCool STx SurfacePad System for cooling andwarming provides a cost-effective,easy-to-use solution with an ad-vanced pad design for non-inva-sive temperature modulationtherapy.

Minimally Invasive Interven-tions

Hybrid OR

Philips Healthcare partnered withthe ACC and cath lab/OR vendorsto showcase how Hybrid ORs canhelp supersede cardiology careobstacles and enable collabora-tion among specialties to treat awider patient population. The Hy-brid OR suite (ACC booth #2744)features advanced solutions thatsupport the trend toward mini-mally invasive interventions. Acomplex combination of equip-ment is required in a Hybrid OR—from high-quality, high-resolutionimaging with advanced 3D soft-ware to support confident deci-sion-making, to surgical tables,lighting, and more. The key to the

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success of a Hybrid OR is itscross-purpose functionality. All el-ements for both image guided andconventional procedures must bewell integrated and simple to ac-cess.In terms of Hybrid OR installa-

tions, Philips and its network of al-liances work with customers tocustomize Hybrid OR suites byusing a 3D architectural planningtool that provides prospective cus-tomers with a visual rendering ofpossible room configurations. Allcomponents of Hybrid OR suitesare assessed prior to installation.

Home Healthcare

Philips at-home solutions help im-prove quality of life and clinicaloutcomes, provide patients easyaccess to clinical counseling, ei-ther directly from clinicians andnurses or via call centers and offerfinancial advantages for both thecare providers and insurers.Philips unique portfolio of prod-ucts for home care allows care-givers to manage chronic cardiacpatients holistically to address im-portant co-morbidities such assleep breathing disorders.

Philips Remote Cardiac Services

Philips Remote Cardiac Servicesextends the reach of the cardiol-ogy practice with solutions thathelp clinicians diagnose arrhyth-mias, provide long-term remotemonitoring of patients with pace-makers and ICDs, and supportself testing for patients on anti-co-agulation therapies.

Philips Respironics

Philips Respironics offers compre-hensive solutions to diagnose,treat, and monitor patients with

sleep-disordered breathing. Clini-cal studies have shown a link be-tween untreated ObstructiveSleep Apnea (OSA) and an in-creased risk of uncontrolled bloodpressure, heart attacks, arrhyth-mias, and stroke.

Research suggests that patientswith OSA and normal blood pres-sure are at greater risk of devel-oping hypertension within fouryears, increasing their chances ofdeveloping other heart diseasesand suffering a stroke.

Approximately 11-38% of patientswith established heart failure havepredominant OSA and successfultreatment of this condition mayimprove the function of their heartand long-term survival.The ac-cepted treatment for OSA is Con-tinuous Positive Airway Pressure(CPAP). CPAP keeps the airwayopen during sleep by providingthem pressurised air via the noseor mouth. In accordance with theevidence, the ESC recom-

mended, in their guidelines for thediagnosis and treatment of acuteand chronic heart failure pub-lished in 2008, that; “Treatmentwith a CPAP should be consid-ered in OSA documented bypolysomnography“

Effective treatment of sleep apneamay improve daytime energy aswell as reduce the potential riskfor these common conditions.

Philips Respironics Alice systemsdiagnose sleep-disorderedbreathing in either a patient’shome or a sleep center. Once di-agnosed, patients may be pre-scribed a Philips RespironicsSystem One CPAP or bi-leveltherapy device. BiPAP autoSVAdvanced is a servo-ventilationdevice which may be prescribedfor patients with more complexsleep apnea, including patientswith central apnea or periodicbreathing (such as Cheyne-Stokes Reparation).

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BD is a leading global medicaltechnology company that de-velops, manufactures and sellsmedical devices, instrumentsystems and reagents. TheCompany is dedicated to im-proving people's healththroughout the world.

BD is focused on improvingdrug delivery, enhancing thequality and speed of diagnos-ing infectious diseases andcancers, and advancing re-search, discovery and produc-tion of new drugs andvaccines. BD's capabilities areinstrumental in combatingmany of the world's mostpressing diseases.

Founded in 1897 and headquar-tered in Franklin Lakes, New Jer-sey, BD employs approximately29,000 associates in more than50 countries throughout the world.The Company serves healthcareinstitutions, life science re-searchers, clinical laboratories,the pharmaceutical industry andthe general public.

BD Diagnostics is a leadingprovider of products for the safecollection and transport of diag-nostics specimens, as well as in-struments and reagent systems toaccurately detect a broad range ofinfectious diseases, healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) andcancers. The BD Diagnostics seg-ment focuses on improving healthoutcomes for patients and provid-

ing laboratories with solutions thatimprove quality, enhance labora-tory system productivity, reducecosts and inform decisions.

More than a Century of Quality

Maxwell W. Becton and FairleighS. Dickinson met on a sales trip in1897. Months later, with a hand-shake and a simple business phi-losophy - "a guarantee ofsuperiority" - they founded BD, amedical device importing firm inNew York City. In 1906, they in-corporated in New Jersey.

One year later they built a factoryin East Rutherford, the first plantin the United States dedicated tothe manufacture of hypodermicneedles and syringes. The com-pany designed most of its ownmachinery and manufacturingprocesses and for many yearswas the only firm in the industrywith fully automated needle-man-ufacturing facilities.

When World War I halted importsof medical supplies from Europe,the company expanded its do-mestic manufacturing operations.Sales of syringes and thermome-ters grew, and the catalog offeredother medical supplies, such asthe well-known Ace® elasticbandage. BD survived the GreatDepression and continued toprosper. During World War II, thecompany developed such innova-tive products as the first dispos-able blood donor kit for theAmerican Red Cross and the BDVacutaine blood collection sys-tem.

Henry P. Becton joined his father'scompany in 1937, and five yearslater, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr.began working at BD. In 1948,control of the company passed tothe founders' sons. Product lineswere broadened, new businessesacquired and the company ex-panded both nationally and inter-nationally. The second generationguided BD through the "dispos-ables revolution," taking the com-pany public in 1962 to obtainadequate financing for the hugeinvestments in equipment formanufacturing sterile disposablemedical products.

From the 1950s through the1980s, the Company diversifiedwithin the healthcare industry,sustaining leadership in the med-ical device market while expand-ing into diagnostics. In 1962, BDbecame a publicly held corpora-tion. The 1980s brought a majorrestructuring and establishment ofBD as a multinational force inhealthcare. In the 1990s, BDadapted to the fundamental

Company profile: BD (Becton Dickinson)

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changes affecting the way health-care is practiced around theworld. It refined its structure, fo-cused its research efforts and de-veloped partnerships with large,integrated healthcare systems toensure delivery of the highest-quality care at the lowest-possiblecost.

BD has emerged as a global med-ical technology company with$7.161 billion in sales in fiscal2009. BD offers a wide range ofproducts to help diagnose andtreat patients, protect healthcareworkers and provide tools formedical research. Through a cen-tury of growth, the company'scommitment to raising the qualityof healthcare worldwide has re-mained constant. The founders'passion for excellence is still re-flected in the dedication of 29,000associates around the world, whowork with the same attention toquality and spirit of caring to bringmiracles of modern medical tech-nology to millions of people.

Product focus

The BD Microtainer® MAP tube isdesigned to improve turnaroundtime, safety and accuracy of cap-

illary blood collection and testingin patients with limited blood vol-ume such as infants, children, on-cology patients and the elderly. Due to lack of compatibility withautomated testing instruments,combined with a higher risk of pa-tient identification errors, low vol-ume capillary blood collection hashistorically had the risk of longertest result turnaround time as wellas improper diagnosis and treat-ment. The BD Microtainer® MAP tube isthe first low volume collection sys-tem to offer both standard, full-size patient identification labels aswell as offer instrument compati-bility with most automated hema-tology instruments. Due to itspatent-pending design, the BD Mi-crotainer® MAP Microtube for Au-tomated Process can run inautomated mode with smallerblood volume.

“Clinical laboratories are focusedon preventing specimen identifi-cation errors that can lead to mis-diagnosis of patients. We at BDare pleased to introduce the BDMicrotainer MAP product to ad-dress this healthcare issue,” saidTom Polen, President, BD Diag-

nostics – Preanalytical Systems.“BD is committed to continuingour history of innovation in helpingimprove patient safety and health-care worker safety, while enhanc-ing workflow efficiency.”

The BD Microtainer MAP tube isthe first low-volume collection sys-tem to accommodate standard,full-size patient identification la-bels, thus reducing the risk of la-beling errors. This feature offers asignificant improvement over tra-ditional microcollection tubes,which are incompatible with stan-dard labels due to their size. Thisdisparity can lead to dangerouslabeling errors that may result inmisdiagnosis and incorrect patienttreatment.

The preanalytical phase is a criti-cal step in the diagnostic process,with significant impact to patienthealth, healthcare worker safety,and workflow efficiencies. Histor-ically, low-volume capillary bloodcollection has increased test re-sult turnaround time due to incom-patibility with automated testinginstruments and a higher risk ofpatient identification errors.The innovative design of the BDMicrotainer MAP tube enables au-tomated processing with 81 per-cent less blood than venoussystems, improving test turn-around time and laboratory effiuf-ficient blood sample to performcritical diagnostic tests.

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Unleashing the potential of Clinical Trials in the Middle East

International Pharmaceuticaland Biotechnology experts toconvene at symposium inDubai, UAE

As the global pharmaceutical andbiotechnology industry rushes tothe emerging markets to set-upand develop new research & de-velopment hubs, the interest inthe MENA region intensifies.There are 31,309 clinical trialscurrently ongoing globally and theMENA region accounts for 5% ofthem (1715 trials). Over the lastfew decades rapid developmenthas taken place in the MENA re-gion and pharma companies areinvesting in clinical trials. It is ex-pected that the outsourcing ofclinical research in the region willgrow by approximately 20% in thecoming few years.

The expediting of regulatory re-forms, widening of training and in-crease in clinical researchexperiences are the reasons forthis prediction. Pharmaceuticaland biopharmaceutical compa-nies have recognized the oppor-tunities and advantages that existwith conducting clinical trials inthe complex MENA region andare turning to the emerging mar-kets where long-term growth canbe sustained. The pharmaceuticalindustry in the region is worth$10.6 billion and investments inclinical research is a potential ofnew and increasing source of rev-enue for the region

With state of the art infrastructurein new modern hospitals and fur-

ther new hospitals in the regionbeing built, the environment forconducting clinical research isever improving. Most of the hos-pitals are now either already ac-credited by Joint CommissionInternational or in the process ofseeking JCI accreditation. Thereis however, a growing need totrain and educate clinical re-searchers within the hospitals andthe regulatory bodies on conduct-ing clinical research in accor-dance with the internationalstandards.

Clinical research raises some del-icate issues of ethics which needto be handled with sensitivity.Ethics refers to moral principlesgoverning human character andconduct and good research prac-tice requires that researchersmust respect the rights of theirsubjects. Experts in clinical trialconduct and quality assuranceare to discuss the current and fu-ture trends of clinical research atthe ClinTec Academy for ClinicalResearch Excellence (ACRE)Workshop. The workshop will beled by Grainne Forrest, ClinTec’sHead of Quality Assurance.

The mission of ACRE is to in-crease the number and quality ofclinical research projects in theMENA region. With the presenceof ACRE, a broad array of educa-tional opportunities in clinical re-search is now locally available tomeet the diverse needs of this re-gion. The ACRE workshop is ac-credited by the Dubai HealthAuthority for 11 (eleven)

CME/CPD points and will run aspart of the third annual PABMEExhibition and Conference takingplace from 23rd – 25th May, 2010,at the Dubai International Con-vention and Exhibition Centre,UAE.

Dr Rabinder Buttar, President andCEO of ClinTec International,says: “As the Global Pharmaceu-tical Industry shifts an increasingamount of clinical research to theemerging markets including theMENA region, there is a growingneed to educate, train and de-velop more clinical researcherswho are certified to internationalstandards in clinical research.ClinTec addresses this needthrough the establishment of itsGlobal Academy of Clinical Re-search Excellence (ACRE) byrunning certified training coursesthroughout the Middle East whichwill address all the main principlesof the International Guidelines onGood Clinical Practice.”

In an effort to highlight the burgeoningpharmaceutical and biotechnology in-dustry in the Middle East, PABME2010 will offer pharmaceutical andbiotechnology scientists and practi-tioners from around the world the op-portunity to interact, network andexchange ideas and bring themselvesand their organisations to the forefrontof the discipline.

For further information about theconference programme takingplace during PABME 2010, pleasevisit www.pabme.com or call +9714 336 5161.

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