Moorfields Eye Hospital holds official launch

Official guests included His Excellency Humaid Obeid al Qutami, UAE Health Minister, John Hawkins, Consul General of the United Kingdom, Sir Thomas Boyd-Carpenter, Chairman of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr. Muhadditha al Hashimi, CEO of DHCC.
Guests were given an exclusive preview of the hospital's interior, which features innovative design elements and state of the art opthalmic equipment such as the recently-installed femtosecond laser.

Dr. Chris Canning, CEO and Medical Director of MEHD, said: 'We are very proud of our new facility, and keen to introduce the community to its outstanding design features as well as to our staff. We have secured the services of some of the most eminent opthamologists in the world today, which will further our goal of making a significant contribution to healthcare delivery in the GCC through patient care, research and training.'

'As the first overseas branch of an institution that is 200 years old, we have a long tradition of excellence to uphold, and we have all elements in place to do so. We have the support of Dubai Health Care City, the video conferencing technology to connect to our parent facility and its pool of highly qualified specialists, and a strong commitment to the UAE and its vision of elevating health care standards between 2008 and 2010.'

Dr Muhadditha Al Hashimi, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Healthcare City, said: 'DHCC is proud to host a renowned service provider such as Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai among other leading global names in the industry. This is a crucial step forward in our strategy to create a regional healthcare hub for excellence.

'The first eye care hospital in the UAE will bring a new dimension to the region's healthcare zone, and we believe Moorfields in turn will benefit from such an integrated, modern environment.'

MEHD provides daycase surgery and outpatient diagnostic and therapeutic services, including emergency care, for a variety of eye surgical and non-surgical medical conditions. Since its opening in June, 2007, the hospital has treated 200 patients.