The majority of Abu Dhabi’s hospitals are now digitally connected, it has been announced. This comes just over a year on from the implementation of the UAE’s first Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform, Malaffi, where more than 60% of hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital are now part of the platform.

Translating into “My File”, Malaffi – which is the country’s first HIE platform – became operational at the end of July 2019, following a contract between Abu Dhabi Health Data Services (ADHDS) and New Zealand technology solutions supplier Orion Health.

ADHDS was set up as a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Abu Dhabi DoH and Injazat Data Systems, which is a subsidiary of the Mubadala global investment company.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Malaffi reportedly currently connects 35 healthcare groups, as well as 40 hospitals and 403 clinics. Healthcare entities connected include Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) hospitals, Emirates Hospital, Emirates International Hospital, Dar Al Shifaa Hospital, Bareen Hospital, and Cambridge Medical & Rehabilitation Hospital. The Malaffi app allows Abu Dhabi residents to access their medical records via smartphones, as reported by Healthcare IT News.

An estimated 25,923 doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals now have access to Malaffi, enabling them to “make better-informed decisions by safely and securely accessing vital medical information, such as patient visits, medical problems, allergies, procedures, lab results, radiology reports and medications” in “107 million clinical records from 16 different Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems operated by over 500 connected healthcare facilities,” the Department of Health (DoH) said in a statement.

“Transforming Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector and delivering the best care possible is at the heart of everything we do. Connecting healthcare and having better data is an integral part of that. This is a time like no other,” said Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, acting under-secretary of the DoH Abu Dhabi. “We are seeing people living longer than ever before; the rise of chronic diseases with hospitals operating at full capacity, and new diseases such as COVID-19 have demonstrated the need for innovative platforms such as Malaffi, that serve the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi and enable the provision of high-quality health services to residents.”

He explained that the DoH was “better set” to evaluate and implement response measures to the COVID-19 outbreak based on real-time pandemic indicators from the centralised database of all COVID-19 results in Abu Dhabi, which was urgently deployed by Malaffi.

“The Platform is enhancing the value of information in the system and speed of connectivity, to help us build a stronger, more resilient and cohesive, knowledge-founded healthcare system that provides better care for everyone.”

ON THE RECORD

Atif Al Braiki, CEO of ADHDS added: “We have been on an ambitious and important journey of connecting healthcare in Abu Dhabi, from the smaller providers – medical centres, dental clinics and pharmacies – to the larger, multi-specialty, cutting edge hospitals.”