Innovating for the Future: Key Takeaways from the Middle East Summit at HLTH Europe

Still buzzing from last week! amplifAI health and GluCare.Health Health launched the first-ever Middle East Summit at HLTH Europe, the biggest health innovation event in Europe. What an incredible adventure!

Let's face some hard truths. Many healthcare systems are broken – we're spending more, but still struggling to deliver better health outcomes. One major reason is that we're not innovating fast enough. We need to boost global collaborations to bring innovations to market faster, while making sure that patient safety is key. The Middle East has a huge role to play in driving innovations with a global impact.

Here are some key takeaway points from the brilliant speakers:

• Dr. Shabab Alghamdi the Secretary General of the Council Of Health Insurance and Dr. Wail Yar shared insights about healthcare insurance in Saudi. One key lesson was that the unified electronic services platform, the National Platform for Health and Insurance Exchange Services (NPHIES), provides consolidated, accurate, and comprehensive data, supporting the achievement of Value-Based Healthcare. This is critical for digital health reimbursement. You can find more about it here.
• Yazid Alazwari the head of new technologies assessments from the Saudi FDA SFDA - ???? ?????? ??????? shared insights about the similarities between the CE MDR certification and the Saudi FDA. He also highlighted the innovative medical device pathway that supports cutting-edge products, such as AI. You can find more about it here.
• Howard Gough , the former CEO of Cigna Healthcare Middle East & Africa , provided a crash course on the Middle East market and potential opportunities. I didn't realize that the Middle East's wider region has a population of over 400M, and the GCC alone has over 60M. For more info, check out his company Emica Consulting .
• Dr. Ihsan Almarzooqi , the co-founder of GluCare.Health, inspired us with real-world examples of how GluCare is pushing the boundaries of healthcare innovation.
• Professor Shafi Ahmed , with his rich global background in medicine, business, and academia, truly made conversations come alive. His ability to connect with everyone and bring diverse perspectives was nothing short of inspiring.
• Dr. Mohammed Alhamali the Chief Innovation & Sandbox Officer at the Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia mentioned that fostering collaboration and partnership is part of the DNA of the regulatory community in the region. He shared information about the Regulatory Healthcare Sandbox, a service that allows innovative companies to provide solutions in digital health and artificial intelligence. Click here for more information.
• Osama Elhassan, Ph.D., FIAHSI , the chair of ZIMAM , leads a remarkable non-profit initiative dedicated to creating sustainable digital health ecosystems. He emphasized the crucial need to upskill the workforce to stay ahead of innovation. To learn more about their initiatives, click here.
• Dr. Justus Wolff olff, Manager of Syte and Member of the European Commission's Focus Group on AI, shared his deep experience in implementing large-scale AI models in diabetes across Europe and the Middle East. One key tip he shared: add a study site in other countries to speed up medical device registration approvals in several jurisdictions at the same time.
• Salim Rabbani a key player in Dutch-Middle East trade, shared many valuable perspectives, including the importance of finding a local distributor.
• Dr. MICHAEL WALSH , the CEO of Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH) , wrapped up the day perfectly, highlighting that the Middle East is a fantastic place to innovate and make a significant impact on human health! From my personal experience working with the team at JHAH – Tamara Sunbul, MD, MBA, FHIMSS, CPHIMS, PMP , Ibtihal Al Attallah MSBA, PMP, CISA, SAP , Hayat Mushcab, Ph.D. and Ahmad Almnaizel – I am truly amazed by their incredible efficiency and unwavering openness to innovation.

A few special shoutouts are in order:

• Middle East Summit Speakers: A huge thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules, especially during the Eid holidays, to share your insights.
• Ali Hashemi , co-creating this with you over the past few weeks was incredible. Your brilliant ideas and flexibility made it all come together perfectly. Thank you!
• Mustafa Alghali , Amplifai Health 's AI genius. I've never been prouder to work with such an incredible individual, and I have the pleasure of learning from you every day. Thank you for helping me in shaping the summit.
• Anisha Patel Katy Fryatt Henry Stoneley Jonathan Weiner and the HLTH Europe team, hats off for organizing an amazing first event in Europe. You brought together the most significant players in the health tech ecosystem, creating a community that's going to make an incredible impact on people's health. I appreciate your vision in bringing the Middle East Summit to life and your professionalism in coordination, follow-up, and execution. ??

Looking forward to seeing how we can continue to push the boundaries and create lasting impact. Excited for even bigger and better things in 2025 ??

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