IBM to address healthcare management challenges at Arab Health 2004

The event is taking place at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre (DIEC) from 18th-21st January, 2004 and will gather the region's healthcare professionals from both the private and public sectors and brief them on the latest trends in the industry and ultimately set new standards of healthcare in the region.

The event will host speakers from IBM who will focus on the company's broad range of healthcare solutions, storage and radiology digital imaging solutions, as well as procurement of Hospital Information Systems (HIS). IBM will also feature a guest speaker, Dr. Klaus Kayser, to talk about the latest trends in the world of molecular and digital pathology. Dr. Kayser is the scientific reviewer for the European Community Research Framework and the Japanese Price Committee. He is also the editor in chief of the 'Electrical Journal of Pathology and Histology' and holds the post as the president of the International Academy of Telepathology (IAT).

"Set to be one of largest healthcare events ever held in the Middle East, the event will provide the region's healthcare professionals a one-stop opportunity to get insight into IBM's broad range of healthcare solutions. Patients need better quality at lower cost and IBM has developed affordable solutions that can give healthcare institutes in this region the leeway to give patients just that," said Dr. Ahmad Okasha, healthcare solutions manager, IBM Middle East. "Around the world, IBM has given healthcare institutions the ability to become pro-active in matters of the community's health and ensure that they are consistently getting high quality healthcare services. Today, IBM is bringing this to the Middle East."

IBM's solutions allow healthcare institutions to maximize patient care through customer relationship management, hospital information systems and complete efficiency without having to sacrifice on compliance with security codes and laws. These solutions will allow medical processes to become inefficiency free, communication between doctors and institutes to be instant and error-free and data will be well managed, stored and always easily retrievable.

"The healthcare institutions across the Middle East are facing the challenges of providing effective healthcare with tight resources. With proper deployment of information technology, these institutions can solve many of their business and clinical challenges," continued Okasha.

Some of the solutions that IBM will be presenting over the three days of the Arab Health 2004 conference include:
•IBM Hospital Information System (HIS) Solutions-These services, along with IBM's partners' superior healthcare solutions can help healthcare institutions in the region improve care and reduce costs by transforming and integrating care delivery systems. IBM can provide business consulting services, supply chain, customer care, security and human resource solutions, content and document management, as well as infrastructure solutions.
•IBM Medical Imaging Solutions (PACS)-The PACS (Picture Archival and Communications Systems) solutions from IBM provide healthcare institutions with the ideal end-to-end solution for long-term medical imaging data storage, where they can easily store, archive and retrieve digital images over a connected network to review and diagnose patient files and records quickly and effectively. This overcomes many of the basic challenges in the orthodox method of storing image on film, including cost control, productivity and the quality of patient care provided by the institution.
•IBM e-Health Services-With consultancy, technology and implementation services, IBM can help 'connect' healthcare institutions through web portals and other connected networks. This allows the different institutions to exchange clinical data over the Web quickly and easily which ultimately helps enhance patient care and safety, reduce medical errors and enable faster response to infectious outbreaks.

In December 2003, IBM Middle East kicked off a major regional focus on technology in healthcare with a series of regional seminars for healthcare professionals to spread awareness of these advanced healthcare technologies.