Medicine is undergoing major changes with personalised healthcare, according to an expert. The second edition of Qatar’s primer healthcare event, Qatar Health, opened here yesterday, bringing in more than 3,000 health practitioners and experts.
Minister of Health and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Health, H E Abdulla bin Khalid Al Qahtani, formally opened Qatar Health 2010, the flagship exhibition and congress of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), at the Doha Exhibition Center. The event was attended by Prof Lord Darzi, former Minister of Health in the United Kingdom, who holds the Paul Hamlyn Chair of Surgery at Imperial College London where he is Head of the Division of Surgery, and Dr Hanan Al Kuwari, Managing Director of HMC, apart from other senior officials.
“The future of medicine is in delivering precise medicine,” said Lord Darzi in his key note address. “This is a bigger change just ahead of us and is changing the healthcare system. Future of healthcare is based on prediction — which can be done using current technology, personalisation — personal medicine and diagnostics, prevention — which is a pillar of healthcare and participatory — a modus operandi for change.”
With the growth of technology today patient specific stimulation technology is available so physicians can achieve proficiency on the patient’s body even before actual procedures.
“We are in an age of transparency which is driven from reforms that should start at the basic levels of healthcare. Changes should focus on quality of service which calls for specific clarity and benchmark for quality, and also evaluation of the quality. There should also be innovations that help drive quality to be the core of the healthcare system. These healthcare innovations should close the gap between knowledge and its implementation.
“Delivering high-quality lasting reform across all health systems can only be successful if a central focus on innovation is maintained by clinicians and health practitioners who must lead the way in challenging outdated working practices on a continuing basis. It is their role to ensure the system stays flexible, both locally and nationally, in the adoption of new ideas.. I believe that Qatari clinicians are leading the way across the region in this regard,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Hanan Al Kuwari, Managing Director of HMC said: “The recent news heralding Qatar’s historic hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2022 has been an inspiration. This has proved that the size of the nation does not limit success, but with proper planning and determination, we can reach our goals. Qatar Health has grown much from the first edition last year and next year we have ambitious plans to extend it. Hence the event will be hosted at Qatar National Convention Center, giving us more facilities to have increased number of speakers and sessions.”
Qatar Health 2010 has over 3,000 delegates from more than 20 countries attending the 16 scheduled healthcare tracks and workshops that are led by more than 200 internationally renowned speakers.
The congress offers an innovative platform for medical practitioners and healthcare professionals as well as scientists, educational institutions, industry sponsors and interested members from the general public. About 100 exhibitors including 40 international companies have presented the latest medical equipment, technology and services.
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The Peninsula