In this exclusive interview, Middle East Health speaks to Vivek Kanade, Managing Director Siemens Healthineers, Middle East and Africa. Kanade discusses innovative approaches to bridging healthcare infrastructure gaps across the region through technological advancements, strategic local partnerships and sustainable capacity-building initiatives. He highlights how remote radiology, AI integration and educational programmes are addressing critical challenges in healthcare accessibility and shortages of healthcare professionals.
Middle East Health: Mr. Kanade, can you explain what are the key gaps in healthcare infrastructure across the Middle East?
The Middle East boasts a rich history and diverse culture. In recent years, there have been significant improvements in the healthcare infrastructure, especially across the more developed countries. However, there are still notable gaps that need attention and action.
One of the most critical gaps in the healthcare infrastructure in the Middle East is the uneven distribution of access to medical facilities or services. Urban areas tend to have better healthcare services, while rural regions often lack access to essential medical care. Enhancing local capabilities and training more specialists would greatly benefit the region.
Another major gap which presents itself even on a global scale is the shortage of qualified healthcare professionals, including technicians, radiologists but also doctors and nurses. This shortage can lead to long waiting times, overworked staff, and ultimately, a decline in the quality of care provided. Addressing this issue requires investment in medical education and training programs to produce a steady supply of skilled professionals.
Technological advancements play a crucial role in modern healthcare, from electronic health records (EHR) to telemedicine and advanced diagnostic tools. However, investment in these technologies varies widely across the Middle East. Investing in modern healthcare technology is essential for improving patient outcomes and streamlining processes.
Middle East Health: Which innovative solutions are helping local and regional healthcare providers to close these gaps and increase access to healthcare?
Remote radiology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are transforming the healthcare industry in profound ways, particularly in addressing the critical issues of workload and staff shortages in the radiology sector. The integration of these technologies not only enhances efficiency but also improves the quality of patient care.
Remote radiology, or teleradiology, allows radiologists to analyze medical images from any location, at any time. This flexibility is crucial in managing the high volume of diagnostic imaging required in modern healthcare. By enabling radiologists to work remotely, healthcare facilities can ensure continuous coverage, reducing the burden on in-house staff and mitigating the shortage of qualified radiologists.
AI algorithms are designed to assist radiologists by pre-screening images and identifying potential areas of concern. This preliminary analysis can significantly reduce the time radiologists spend on each case, allowing them to focus on more complex diagnostics and patient interactions. AI can also help in prioritizing cases based on urgency, ensuring that critical cases receive immediate attention.
In conclusion, the combination of remote radiology solutions and AI not only alleviates the workload of radiologists, but also addresses the shortage of qualified staff, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and enhanced healthcare services.
Middle East Health: How do you foster and leverage local and regional partnerships to address these issues?
We at Siemens Healthineers believe that local and regional partnerships are pivotal and the only sustainable way of consecutively improving local healthcare infrastructures. For this purpose, we have established supporting facilities in the Middle East:
- In June 2024, we opened doors to our new Regional Headquarter in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which serves as Centre of Excellence for Digitalization & Automation, Innovation & Scientific Partnerships and Customer Services.
- Our Innovation & Scientific Partnership is the collaboration ecosystem supporting the Innovation Capacity Building Program with over 2,400 partners across the globe, focusing on addressing local and regional key healthcare challenges.
- In February 2023, we expanded and opened new premises of our established Siemens Healthineers Academy in Egypt, which keeps delivering to our objective of addressing the shortage of medical skills and access to care in North Africa and the Middle East.
Let me give you a three few examples of our partnerships in the Middle East addressing the gaps in healthcare infrastructures:
a) Women’s Health Program in Egypt: At the heart of this initiative in partnership with the Ministry of Health in Egypt and in alignment with the Egyptian Presidential Women’s Health Initiative launched in 2020 is the deployment of 90 mammography systems including eight mobile trucks, enhancing daily screening and diagnostics alongside provision of health education, breast cancer screening, and treatment across the nation. Another crucial part of this joint initiative supported by Siemens Healthineers Academy in Egypt is the extensive educational program tailored to the MOHP’s requirements, dedicated to enhancing the skills and knowledge of healthcare professionals.
b) Unification of patient data: Dubai Health Authority in the UAE is using Siemens Healthineers imaging and reporting solution syngo. Carbon in combination with their own NABIDH platform, to centralize and host cross-hospital medical records and images in one place, providing access to physicians across 60 medical institutions. This unification of patient data marks a leap forward in the accessibility of healthcare and free selection of providers across Dubai.
c) Remote scanning at Virtual Hospital Saudi Arabia: After implementation of Syngo Virtual Cockpit, experienced technologist located in the virtual hospital in Riyadh can operate CT, MRI and PET scanners at remote sites centrally. Multiple diagnostic imaging systems have been installed which are located more than 1,000 KM away from Riyadh while being operated from the virtual hospital. This solution helps the Ministry of Health to deal with the challenge of shortage of experienced staff in certain healthcare facilities and remote areas, standardize image quality, and train new staff at remote sites.
Middle East Health: How does Siemens Healthineers implement sustainability into their objectives and business strategy?
Sustainability sits at the very core of our company’s purpose. We want to advance a world where breakthroughs in healthcare create new possibilities with a minimal impact on our planet. Therefore, our company’s sustainability strategy is built on three pillars: We commit to improving healthcare access for all, we aim to limit our environmental impact with the products and solutions we offer, and we engage our diverse workforce to achieve this impact on a global scale.
We focus heavily on supporting the healthcare industry to foster local capacity building and create a sustainable domestic healthcare infrastructure. Through public and private partnerships, we are sharing our knowledgebase, connecting governmental entities with educational institutions and private businesses to create an innovative environment that helps close the structural gaps and address the shortage of qualified staff for healthcare organizations.
As a third pillar, and extremely important in our region, is the implementation and maintenance of a diverse and engaged workforce, leveraging different strengths and backgrounds to achieve our joint objective to advance a world where breakthroughs in healthcare create new possibilities with minimal impact on our planet.
Middle East Health: In closing, is there anything you would like to add?
As a key player in the healthcare sector of a diverse region, we are continuously maximizing our efforts to close the identified gaps in healthcare infrastructures while being the best possible counterpart to our local partners. We do so by honouring our legacy as an innovator and by quickly adapting to new technologies, while focusing on our footprint, both ecologically, but also with regards to our contribution to local capacity building, putting us in a unique position to positively impact the development of sustainable structures together with our local partners. As our purpose statement defines: “We pioneer breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably.”
This is why we give our best every day, to improve the lives of patients and their families.
