Abu Dhabi: Comprehensive health screening packages that include early cancer detection will be available in Abu Dhabi by this year end.
The screening centre will open at Marina Mall by December. Health experts reckon it could be a game changer in the UAE’s battle against chronic diseases, especially cancer.
Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, Managing Director of VPS Healthcare, said: “Ours is a four-pillar approach that includes establishment of screening centres, fielding top of the line technology and world class medical professionals, early detection and prevention through screening, education and awareness. This will bring in a paradigm shift in healthcare and cancer management in the country.”
The health promotion centre is a joint venture between VPS that owns a chain of hospitals and clinics in the UAE including the Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital (SSMH) in Korea.
SSMH is one of the top institutes in Korea in medical academics and has established wide-ranging specialty centres to combat a multitude of cancers. It has achieved great surgical success, performing more than 430 hematopoietic stem cell transplantations for leukaemia, multiple myeloma, malignant lymphoma and other hematopoietic disorders.
Dr Hoo Guen Chun, director of SSMH’s Comprehensive Cancer Institute, said their institute is a pioneering centre based on the multi-disciplinary approach which has brought a paradigm shift in healthcare and disease prevention in Korea. “We are trying to bring the same concept to the UAE.
Dr Vayalil said VPS Healthcare’s strategic vision is to have an extensive network of HPCs across the UAE and other countries within five years.
The first of VPS’s HPCs in Marina Mall will open with over 75 healthcare professionals, with a capacity of 25 patients daily.
A second facility will be included as part of the new Korean Hospital in Dubai, being constructed by VPS Healthcare in partnership with Meydan MHK Healthcare.
The new facility, located on Meydan Racecourse District Grounds, will cover a 280,000-square-foot plot and comprise two buildings containing 170 patient beds, seven operating rooms and employing over 600 highly trained medical and staff.
“These new centres will focus extensively on detection and accurate diagnosis, implementing test programmes stratified by age, organ system and family history,” explained Dr Vayalil.
That means patients can choose from various screening packages that will cover a whole spectrum of diseases, based on their age, gender, family history and medical condition. The screening costs are not covered by medical insurance.
“Every patient is different,” said Dr Shamsheer Vayalil. “There are generalities and consistencies in biological and medical terms, but each patient has his or her own unique make-up and circumstances that influence and affect health. VPS Healthcare wants to explore these individual realities to find more effective methods of treatment for patients on a case-by-case basis.”
