A Medical Device Daily
Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio) and Mubadala Development (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) have signed a 15-year agreement to establish a “world-class” hospital in Abu Dhabi to be known as Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Cleveland Clinic said this is an initiative “set to create a new benchmark for the development and promotion of healthcare services in the Middle East.”
It said it will establish the hospital in Dhabi, using its systems, procedures, guidelines, and standards and incorporating its group model, which provides specialty services based on the results of a health economic impact study.
The agreement was signed at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, in the presence of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. The two signatories were H.E. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, CEO and managing director of Mubadala Development and Delos “Toby” Cosgrove, MD, CEO of Cleveland Clinic.
The site of the new hospital, scheduled to be operational in three years, will be on Al Suwwa Island, close to the Mina Zayed Port and across from Abu Dhabi Mall.
Sheikh Mohammed said: “Attracting the world's best healthcare institutions and professionals to Abu Dhabi is a key component of the government's health policy. This agreement represents another step in the realization of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE's vision to provide the people of the UAE with the best healthcare facilities in the world.”
A health economic impact study is under way to determine the national and regional requirements for Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. When completed in early 2007, the study will identify the specialties, associated facilities and capacities that the hospital will include.
Mubadala Development is a public joint stock company, owned by the government of the Emirate Abu Dhabi that invests in industrial and commercial partnerships.
In other agreements news:
• LastMile Communications (Raleigh, North Carolina/Exeter UK/London), a provider of edge-of-network wireless content delivery solutions, said it has signed an agreement with J4 MediSmart , a subsidiary of J4 Technologies (Alpharetta, Georgia), for J4 MediSmart to purchase and deploy up to 236,000 Wdirect Information Nodes over the next five years for applications in the U.S. healthcare market. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Antony Abell, CEO of LastMile, said, “Healthcare facilities will leverage the combined technologies to improve administration and the delivery of healthcare and associated services.”
J4 MediSmart said it is working with healthcare officials for the acceptance of wireless delivery of information and support of patients.
“Wireless solutions can help caregivers improve their decision-making ability by providing on-demand access to this data including up-to-date test results, current vital signs, and appointment schedules for referrals and further tests including location of the patient on the medical campus,” said Skip Ballou, president of LastMile.
LastMile's Direct Information Node stores patient data profiles and records, making them accessible through handheld devices or wearable PCs. Even rich media content can be locally stored and made available as a patient moves within the healthcare campus.
LastMile says the J4 MediSmart's Portable Health Information Technology, interfaced with the WDirect Information Nodes, will result in high-performance, decentralized, wireless information distribution and dissemination platform for delivery of healthcare services.