Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum launches Wareed project at Gitex 2008

His Highness was received by His Excellency Humaid Mohamed Al Qutami, Minister of Health, and the project's officials. 'Wareed' is a Ministry of Health initiative aiming to elevate public healthcare sector by adopting global best practices in delivering world-class healthcare standards.

'Wareed' is a unique federal step designed to link all hospitals in the UAE through one common platform. The first stage of this programme will integrate 14 public hospitals and 68 affiliate clinics across the country under a single centralized platform that will manage patient information and deliver the full spectrum of public healthcare services in accordance with global best practices.

Project 'Wareed' is based on a technological platform that will virtually link all public sector medical establishments across the country and automate all healthcare processes across radiology, pathology, pharmacy, surgery, emergency and registration departments, supported by high-end data centers and network infrastructure.

Present on the occasion, His Excellency Humaid Mohamed Al Qutami, Minister of Health, said:

"It is a great honor that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai has launched the project 'Wareed' today. The unlimited support and inspirational vision of His Highness played a major role to motivate Ministry of Health (MoH) to adopt and implement modern techniques and to provide the best healthcare service to citizens and residents."

Al Qutami added, "His Highness' continuous guidance inspires us to strive to give more and to be self confident in achieving the Ministry's objectives. This is a pioneering project which is the first of its kind in the Middle East and one which is in line with the world's most advanced public health care regimes that will set new standards in one of the most valued facets of our society."

"Ministry of Health started implementing this major project as we signed the implementation contract last week and the phase will be rolled out over three years. 'Wareed' is set to enhance the quality of health care in public hospitals and health care centers through rapid access to patients' important information," he said.

"This initiative is part of MoH's new strategy which started at the beginning of the year and included various initiatives set to revolutionize administration, technical and financial health care systems, establishment of an electronic health information system linking all federal and local health establishments, building a database of health information and scientific evidence as well as the implementation of a new medical records system in health institutions," added Al Qutami.

Al Qutami further said, "'Wareed' will enhance health care and increase the public's confidence in health care services by integrating 14 public hospitals and 68 affiliate clinics across the country under a single centralized platform that will efficiently manage patient information. The project is based on a technological platform that will virtually link all public sector medical establishments across the public health care sector and automate all healthcare processes across radiology, pathology, pharmacy, surgery, emergency and registration departments, supported by high-end data centers and network infrastructure."

"Wareed is set to increase the public's confidence in health care services and to improve in-patient and out-patient care in public health care institutions. The project will be implemented over three years with the first two hospitals scheduled to come on line by mid 2009. Every three months thereafter two hospitals along with the affiliated primary care centers will go live with the system. All hospitals and clinics will be fully utilizing the system by October 2011," he explained.

"The UAE government has supported this three years project. Enhancing public's trust in healthcare sector is a strategic aim for the government, Wareed is yet another testament to its commitment in providing the best-of-breed public sector services that improve efficiencies and enhance lifestyles. We are confident that this investment will quickly bring many tangible benefits to the residents of the UAE and meet end-users' demand for a more efficient public health sector in line with UAE's global image as a country that cares for the needs of its citizens and residents," Al Qutami concluded.

MoH assigned Hybrid Health Solutions (HHS), a Dubai-based project management and solution providers to manage the project, which will be implemented by a consortium of internationally renowned healthcare technology providers led by leading IT systems integration and consultancy Company, iCapital.

The consortium includes system providers, Cerner Corporation, a leading US IT Healthcare specialist, Gulf Business Machines (GBM), that will provide the hardware and networking infrastructure for Wareed, and Mubadala-owned, Injazat Data Systems, which will support Wareed with the data center infrastructure and management.

Wareed will encompass the modernization of computer equipment and office applications across all the medical facilities involved in the project, provision of centralized help desks manned by professional support staff, and the launch of a web portal to provide a gateway for electronic interaction between the public, patients, physicians and hospital staff.