GE Healthcare is putting digital, big data and the Industrial Internet at the heart of its latest offerings to help healthcare providers enhance diagnostic performance, improve productivity and lower costs. Providers and Ministries of Health throughout the region need affordable solutions to generate more sustainable healthcare outcomes for patients seeking effective diagnosis and monitoring of disease. GE's new solutions are being showcased under the theme of ‘Partners for Better Health' at the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress, held at the Dubai International Convention Center from tomorrow (Jan. 25) to 28, 2016. Public and private investment in the Middle East's healthcare sector is forecast to exceed $150 billion in 2016a driven by high population growth rates, longer life expectancy and the extension of compulsory health insurance, as well as the spread of lifestyle diseases and chronic illness. Non-communicable diseases (NCD), such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, represent one of the biggest cost burdens in the region, forecast to reach $68 billion by 2022, according to a Strategy& report. Governments are increasingly looking to partner with companies to help address the increase in NCDs and improve the quality of healthcare. This is a key priority for GE Healthcare, which aims to deliver outcome-based solutions for the region's healthcare industry. Maher Abouzeid, President & CEO of GE Healthcare's Eastern Growth Markets, said: "In line with the biggest priorities of the region's healthcare providers, digital healthcare isn't just about connecting hospital departments and physicians more effectively, but also utilizing the masses of data from our diagnostic MRI and CT scanners, for example, to help clinicians make better care decisions, improve productivity and generate efficiencies." As a digital industrial company, GE is committed to growth in the region and to expanding its digital offerings and capabilities in several areas, including cloud. Abouzeid added: "Digital isn't the future; it's the now. The region's public and private providers want to partner with companies that can transform healthcare at the departmental, hospital, and system level. Many of these digital solutions are already being adopted in the region and we're proud to launch several of these technologies for the first time at Arab Health. This is an incredibly exciting time for healthcare transformation in the region that has the potential to significantly improve outcomes for our health systems and, ultimately, for patients." At this year's event, the technologies presented by GE Healthcare span multiple care settings and include: OnWatch Predictive Services, Omnyx digital pathology solution, DoseWatch for Patient Safety, ViosWorks – a cardiac MRI solution that reduces the cardiac exam from over 60 minutes to approximately 10 minutes or less, and Invenia automated breast ultrasound system. GE Healthcare has invested $2 billion to build its software capability by 2018.
