Arab Health Awards honour excellence and achievement

Winners were announced from countries including Qatar, Lebanon UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The first award went to the Hamad Medical Corporation Qatar, which took the prize for Best Hospital Accreditation Initiative. Sponsored by Quality Healthcare Australia in conjunction with The Australian Council of Healthcare Standards, the award was received by the corporation's representative at Arab Health, Turki Al Khater. The Qatar National Cancer Society later scooped the prize for Best Use of Public-Private Partnership.

The Specialist Achievement Award for Imaging, sponsored by Siemens, was presented to Dr. Saad Zakko, Consultant at Dubai Hospital for their innovative work within the Department of Nuclear Medicine.

The Specialist Achievement Award for Surgery went to the King Fahad National Guard Hospital of Saudi Arabia for their pioneering work and was received by Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah. WorldCare Saudi Arabia took home the award for Best International Partnership.

The field of pharmacy was given recognition by the Specialist Achievement Award for Pharmacy received by Dr. Mohammad Albuelkair of the General Authority for Health Services. This was followed by the presentation for the award for Best Healthcare Support Services to Iyad Malkawi, Director, Directorate of Biomedical Services Ministry of Health and Royal Scientific Society of the Jordanian Ministry of Health.

A new award presented this year was for the Best Humanitarian Healthcare Initiative for Iraq. It was intended for the organisation that was felt had contributed the most to help rebuilding the Iraqi healthcare infrastructure. It was presented to Khalifa Nassar Al Suwaidi of the Red Crescent Society, UAE.

In recognition for their high standards of design and development, the Clemenceau Medical Center in Lebanon took the award for Hospital Development. Gulf Drug Establishment took the award for distributor of the year for second year running.

John Hassett, exhibitions director at Arab Health said that the regional scope covered by the awards is a reflection of the many exciting developments the Middle East healthcare sector. "The Arab Health Awards 2005 have shown that this region is now maturing both in terms of clinical work and the construction of first class medical infrastructure. They point to the fact that the region's healthcare sector is one of the most dynamic in the world today."