Dubai, 10 May 2011: Under the patronage and attendance of His Excellency Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, UAE Minister of Health, launched a new programme “Your Health in Your Hands” that has been prepared by Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company “du” to coincide with Women Health International Week (May 8-14).
His Excellency Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim and Mr. Osman Sultan, CEO of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company “du” launched the programme in the company’s headquarters in the attendance of public figures and health officials.
His Excellency Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, UAE Minister of Health, said: “The ministry welcomes such important ideas and initiatives that aim to enhance health and achieving awareness among the UAE nationals and residents and benefit from the latest technological applications. The UAE federal government encourages cooperation between societal public and private sectors”.
His Excellency lauded the idea and contents of the initiative reinstating that the new technology delivers health messages and provides useful information for the residents of the UAE as part of the great progress the country witnesses and new innovations. “du” provides exquisite services to the society and plays a great role in the technological development of the UAE by deploying its experiences and services.
His Excellency emphasised that such initiatives enhance and achieve the ministry’s goals and objectives in providing excellent healthcare services through implementing diverse initiatives that concentrate on awareness campaigns to raise the medical and health practices.
His Excellency added that the “Your Health in Your Hands” programme launches smart health solutions and enhance the ministry’s efforts in disseminating healthy lifestyles, protection and prevention against different diseases reassuring that knowledge resources and health awareness campaigns benefit the community members and health sectors while maintain the health safety of the society.
du’s vision depends on enhancing health programmes through mobile phones to maintain the success of the society and health of community members.
du’s new technology programme satisfies the national health priorities, needs of both UAE nationals and expatriates in addition to comprehensive information about diabetes and heart diseases that are among the most widespread diseases in the UAE. du will also cooperate with healthcare providers in all modern technologies that are related to chronic diseases and remote care.
The programme enables patients to communicate with healthcare providers in obtaining all the necessary information and recognizing the progress of their disease through a specialised network in healthcare services. The service is expected to be developed in the future time through du’s vision in this new emerging technology and investment in advanced new services.
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Notes for the Editor
• du today also announced a strategic partnership with Mobile Doctors 24-7 International, to launch a unique integrated health care delivery service called Health Call. Health Call will offer a scalable array of clinical management services designed to provide timely access to needed services, facilitate coordination of care, and enable alternatives to hospital care as appropriate.
• Furthermore, du announced Health Link, a prestigious project aligned to address a national priority; to better manage the prevalence of growing chronic diseases. Health Link will be revolve around SIM based medical devices that remotely monitor the conditions of chronic disease management patients sufferings from diabetes, cardiac diseases and other chronic conditions prevalent in the UAE. In collaboration with Ericsson and various private sector healthcare providers, a three-month pilot connecting patients and doctors will be conducted to monitor the health of a select group of identified patients in two disease areas – Diabetes and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD).
• du announced Smart Health – a strategic initiative that consolidates all du’s mobile health (mhealth) services under a common banner, and connects stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem through technology, smart networks and innovative services.
• du announced launch of two new women-oriented services – Pregnancy Tips and Her Health. These are part of the successfully launched Health Text portfolio of SMS text based lifestyle and wellness services that include Quit Smoke, Lose Weight and Live Well.
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On this occasion, Osman Sultan, CEO, du, said: “Today is a momentous occasion and we are proud to launch Smart Health. This is our vision for mobile health and with this we hope to be a strategic contributor to the nation’s wellbeing, success and continued growth. This is an ambitious initiative and we are fortunate to have the direction of His Excellency and the Ministry of Health and their support to make this a reality. As a telecom service provider we can leverage our network - the fastest network in the region, and our growing customer base of over 4.5 million, to act as an interface between our citizens who need timely information and proper access to healthcare and quality health care providers – thus literally adding life to life”.
Elaborating on the initiatives, Farid Faraidooni, Chief Commercial Officer, du, said: “Our strategy is to enable the ecosystem between patients, their families and their care-givers, insurers and employers to become a seamless continuum of integrated healthcare delivery through available information, connected communities and pervasive data - any time, any place. Building on the success of our previously launched Health Text programmes – Quit Smoke, Live Well and Lose Weight, we have enlarged the scope of mobile health to offer Smart Health – with its mutually reinforcing components Health Text, Health Call and Health Link, that form vital links to achieve our primary goal - to make the global vision of patient-centric healthcare a reality.”
Overview of du’s Smart Health Portfolio:
Under the Smart Health banner du currently offers three key services; Health Text, Health Link and Health Call, each addressing critical national health priorities and emerging needs.
Health Link: Offers remote monitoring systems in the management of chronic illness such as diabetes, obesity, respiratory and cardio-vascular illnesses. With partners Ericsson – a three-month pilot has been announced connecting patients and doctors across the United Arab Emirates through state of the art, mobile SIM embedded devices, robust communication networks and best of breed healthcare partners.
Health Call: Partnering with Mobile Doctors 24-7 International and "Hospital at Home" Program developed by Johns Hopkins - du will facilitate the UAE’s first state of the art 24-7 physician call center through network and connectivity solutions. Using this Mobile Doctors 24-7 will offer world-class coordinated healthcare, round the clock. Subscribers to the service will be able to reach a qualified physician to help them in their care needs and can be instrumental in the availability of quality care in times of need. The value of building a relationship with knowledgeable doctors on call, available anytime, who can also coordinate any on-going treatment with required inpatient hospital services or home care needs, and be able to supplement it with other ancillary healthcare services; is significant. This is the powerful model of integrated healthcare delivery that using Health Call, Mobile Doctors 24-7 will offer.
Health Text: Available in the UAE, the Health Text service - in association with PurpleTeal, Inc., a US based health services provider, offers a bouquet of SMS text based tips, suggestions, factoids and advice for leading a better and healthy lifestyle. du mobile customers can now subscribe to Quit Smoke, Live Well and Lose Weight - where customers receive text messages that informs, motivates and prompts them to lead healthier lives.
Coinciding with the “International Women’s Health Week” two additional products have been launched; Her Health and Pregnancy Tips, which are designed to provide the personalised and relevant information on women’s unique medical needs and pregnancy related tips and suggestions.