Middle East's $74bn healthcare sector to grow 16% annually, drive demand for new technology solutions

The Summit offers a distinct networking and B2B platform that leverages the excellent growth potential of the Middle East's $74bn healthcare sector, which has been projected to expand by up to 16% annually.

Organised under the patronage of the Ministry of Health for the Sultanate of Oman, the Summit will also gather key government officials and healthcare and technology leaders to discuss the latest innovations and strategies to advance the quality of healthcare for all citizens in the region.

"This Summit, and future leadership summits in the region, will enable us to draw upon global best practices to ensure that healthcare delivery organisations are able to do more with less using health IT," said Hamad Al-Daig, co-chair of the Middle East HIT Leadership Summit and Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Affairs, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Rahman A.S. Al-Tauqi, co-chair of the Middle East Health IT Leadership Summit and Director General of Information Technology at the Ministry of Health, Sultanate of Oman, commented:

"Major areas of focus in the program include the technological implications of major insurance implementations and the total investment required for health IT. It is critical that senior decision makers understand the system-wide implications of health IT and how it can bring value to all healthcare stakeholders."

The HIMSS Health IT Leadership Summit co-chairs also announced a partnership with the Saudi Association for Health Informatics. As part of this collaboration, the Health IT Leadership Summit will conduct its next Organising Committee meeting in conjunction with the Saudi eHealth Conference from April 24 to 28, 2010 in Riyadh. SAHI will also partner with the Health IT Leadership Summit to invite key members to join the inaugural HIMSS event in Oman.