Arab Health and Medlab Middle East generated AED767.7 million (US$209 million) of new business deals during the live, in-person element of the show in June, according to the organizers, Informa Markets. The four-day exhibition saw 22,800 visitors from 172 countries connect with 1,700 exhibitors from 61 countries, including 30 international pavilions.
Wouter Molman, Executive Vice President for Informa Markets, said: “Arab Health and Medlab Middle East have been a resounding success this year and underscored the importance, and perhaps, more importantly, the demand, to host live and in-person events once again. Our overarching goal was to create a platform that was conducive to facilitating business deals by providing an opportunity to make connections, network and ultimately to support global healthcare recovery.”
Deals completed during the event included a collaboration between American Hospital Dubai and Etisalat Digital to enhance the patient experience by utilising multiple digital technologies.
Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital (AJCSH) announced a high-profile agreement with Illumina Netherlands BV, the world’s leader in next-generation sequencing, to provide technical expertise, reagents and analysis tools and training to the group.
Elsewhere on the show floor, Gulf Medical University signed an MOU with GEOTAR-Med LLC, a leading company in Russia providing complex turnkey solutions for medical education, to develop, produce and advance exciting simulation equipment for education in healthcare professions.
As part of the online element of the show, 19,699 visitors attended from countries including Chile, Congo, Mauritius, Zambia, Bolivia, Costa Rica & Dominican Republic, totaling over 31 countries who were only represented online thanks to the virtual aspect of the exhibitions. A survey of online participants revealed that 47% of online attendees had never attended either show in the past.
“These results underscore the impor- tance of our online event by providing an opportunity for an even greater audience to participate. While the physical events remain a strong and impactful platform, which resulted in millions of dirhams worth of business generated at the in-per- son shows, the online element has so far facilitated over 46,300 unique connections from around the world,” added Molman.
The 2022 edition of the show, which returns as a co-located event for the health- care and laboratory industries, will take place from 24 – 27 January at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Italian pavilion
Speaking to Middle East Health, Amedeo Scarpa, the Italian Trade Commissioner in the UAE, who attended the exhibition, said that although the show attendance was smaller than in previous years due to the pandemic, “the quality of visitors was better”.
Italy is a major player in the life science sector and is internationally recognised for its excellence in biotech, pharma and medical devices.
Scarpa said that the healthcare sector in the Middle East was one of the fastest growing markets in the world – and that for this reason they were looking at a re-structuring of production by moving from the Far East to the Middle East – so called near-shoring of established companies.
“There are many important buyers in this region, particularly from Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“In the UAE, Italian healthcare companies, including pharma, have 9-10% market share.”
He noted that medical device exports to the UAE has seen a 19.3% increase in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year.
For the first time at Arab Health, Italy assisted eight Italian start-ups to showcase their products at the Italian pavilion. Scarpa said the Italian contingent at Arab Health showcased one of the largest offerings by any country. “The exhibition is one of the most important globally in this sector and as a country, we heavily invest in healthcare innovation by supporting young individuals with a dynamic outlook.”
Valiamo, one of the Italian start-ups at the show, manufactures hospital equipment, home care and medical solutions using artificial intelligence. One of their products is an innovative smart bed called Angelo with built-in patient monitoring capabilities. The sensors which monitor vital signs, patient movement, quality of sleep and other parameters with artificial intelligence, are built in to the bed’s structure and can relay information on the patient’s condition directly to attending doctors and nurses.
Other Italian start-ups included ComfTech, an innovative start-up that develops, produces and sells wearable monitoring systems. Their textile sensors enable measurement of vital signs, such as heart rate, breathing rate and other parameters, such as body position and activity level, which can inform clinicians of the patient’s health through remote monitoring.
USA pavilion
US technology was also on show at Arab Health with more than 100 US manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, hospitals, clinics and practitioners participating.
The centrepiece of America’s effort at Arab Health was the USA Partnership Pavilion, organized since 1993 by Kallman Worldwide, the show’s official US representative, in coordination with government agencies, including the departments of Commerce and State.
Cardiac Insight was one of the US companies exhibiting at the event. The company specialises in wearable cardiac sensors and proprietary software that automatically analyses ECG data to improve early detection and diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation. At the show they launched their Cardea SOLO ECG system combines a single-use patient-friendly wearable ECG sensor with in-clinic automated software managed by clinicians for arrhythmia analysis.
Another US company at Arab Health was IMI (International Medical Industries), an industry leader in tamper-evident products that enhance medication safety IMI’s Prep-Lock tamper evident port cap throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain. IMI’s Prep-Lock brand of tamper evident products includes security devices for IV, oral, and enteral syringes, IV bags, and CADD medication cassettes.
Dubai Healthcare City
Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) used Arab Health as platform to galvanize key partners for a major drive focused on its research and development capabilities. At Arab Health, DHCC had partner zones where organizations, including Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital, Al Jalila Foundation and the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences demonstrated some of their past, current and planned R&D projects. The idea was to highlight the research capabilities and initiatives of its community partners as part of DHCC’s drive to develop the destination as a global research hub.
French Healthcare pavilion
France brought 51 companies to Arab Health. The most represented sectors at the pavilion included consumer goods, di- agnostic tests, digital health, hospital and medical equipment, medical gas equip- ment, orthopaedics and physiotherapy/ rehabilitation. In the UAE, France is the fourth largest supplier of pharmaceutical products and has developed substantial economic and commercial activity, with many subsidiaries already established in the health sector, such as Sanofi, Ipsen, Servier, Air Liquide and Hygienair.
LG’s advanced medical monitors
LG Electronics showcased a range advanced medical display solutions.
Hongju Jeon, President of LG Electronics Gulf, commented: “As a leader in the premium monitor market, LG is supporting healthcare providers in their efforts to ensure more accurate medical diagnosis, operations and treatment. Medical displays play a pivotal role in ensuring positive long-term outcomes, so the importance of proper perception and interpretation cannot afford to be overlooked. We are proud to be catering towards the healthcare sector and believe that our medical displays are offering a clear market differentiator – owing to the level of detail and practicality we have embedded into each of their designs.”
At the event LG unveiled an improved X-ray acquisition software for the company’s Digital X-Ray Detector (DXD) line-up. This software has been developed in close partnership with VUNO – an industry-renowned specialist in AI-based medical solutions. It represents the first healthcare solution in LG’s medical imaging portfolio to make use of AI. When combined with LG DXD, the advanced software enables a more seamless, time- efficient way of generating and analyzing X-ray images.
Within LG’s portfolio of Diagnostic Monitors, model 31HN713D features a 12MP IPS display for mammography and also separate functions under Pathology Mode and Focus View Mode. Diagnostic monitors often need to be connected to various modalities, all with differing resolutions. With 31HN73D’s Multi-resolution Mode, users can adjust the resolution of monitor to optimize in accordance with the connected device.
LG’s latest 4K Surgical Monitor (model 32HL714S) comes with a large 31.5-inch IPS Display for greater clarity and precision. The monitor provides visual comfort for viewing accurate images from a 178 degree viewing angle and as a result, reduces the risk of misperception. It is compatible with HDR-supported medical devices such as endoscope cameras and can deliver images from devices vividly without crushing blacks in dark areas. LG’s surgical monitors also feature anti-reflection and anti-fingerprint protection glass for enhanced usability.
LG also showcased Clinical Review monitors, hospital TVs and Interactive Display Boards.
Philips’ reimagined future of healthcare
Philips demonstrated a reimagined future of healthcare, realized through AI-driven clinical collaboration command centres and key telehealth solutions. The company showcased healthcare innovations and workflows that facilitate communication and collaboration between technologists and experts, including:
Digital Pathology with remote and real-time collaboration: The use of an enterprise-wide digital pathology platform contributes to earlier and more accurate detection and tissue assessment. In addition, a digital pathology solution can lead to a decrease in the rate of interpretation errors, especially in difficult and diagnostically rare diseases conducted by non-subspecialized pathologists. It can also save time for pathologists in administration tasks such as matching slides and paperwork to cases, transporting cases, error correction, and retrieving prior re- cords. This frees up capacity for a higher volume of patients to receive the access to care they need.
Tele-ICU: Tele-ICUs, such as the Philips eICU, enables clinicians to inter- act with staff at the bedside and consult on individual care – even from offsite. This means one centralized specialized critical care team can manage large number of ICU locations, and exchange health in- formation electronically, in real time. This offers a supplement – not a replacement – to the bedside team, by creating added support structures to increasingly scarce clinical resources.
Tele-ultrasound: Philips Lumify – award-winning tablet-based ultrasound solution with Reacts, the world’s first truly integrated tele-ultrasound solution, brings professionals, places and patients together. Key to future care delivery and collaboration, it enables live communication for better support and more meaningful collaborations.
Virtual Care: Philips’ telehealth solutions and capabilities enable customers to extend where, when and how care is delivered. Virtual care can help to improve efficiency while maintaining quality of care and optimizing staff allocation and productivity through data-driven insights.
