From hospitals to health systems: How connected care will redefine GCC healthcare by 2026

As the GCC looks ahead to 2026, healthcare leadership in the region will no longer be measured by the number of hospitals built or beds added alone. Instead, it will be defined by how effectively healthcare systems connect data, doctors, and patients into a seamless, responsive continuum of care. The future of healthcare is not episodic, it is integrated, predictive, and deeply patient-centric.

At the heart of this transformation lies operational excellence powered by digital connectivity. In an increasingly complex healthcare environment, the ability to orchestrate care across clinics, hospitals, diagnostics, pharmacies, insurers, and virtual platforms will determine outcomes, efficiency, and sustainability.

From fragmented care to a connected operating model

Traditionally, healthcare systems across the world have operated in silos, each consultation, test, or prescription functioning as a standalone event. By 2026, the GCC is rapidly moving away from this fragmented model towards one where longitudinal patient data becomes the foundation of care delivery.

Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), interoperable health information exchanges, AI-enabled clinical decision support systems, and digital diagnostics are converging to create a single, composite patient view. This allows physicians to move beyond reactive treatment and instead practice proactive, evidence-based, and personalised care.

Across the UAE and wider GCC, national platforms such as NABIDH (Dubai), Malaffi (Abu Dhabi) and Riayati (UAE-wide) are already enabling secure data sharing across public and private providers. These systems are no longer pilots, they are fast becoming the backbone of clinical operations, improving continuity of care while reducing duplication, errors, and delays.

Operational readiness: The new competitive advantage

Achieving connected care at scale requires more than technology, it demands operational maturity. This includes workforce optimisation, capacity planning, insurance integration, and digitally enabled workflows that reduce friction at every patient touchpoint.

The UAE’s healthcare system offers strong evidence of this operational shift. According to the Dubai Health Authority’s Statistical Yearbook, the number of doctors in Dubai rose to 11,890 in 2022, reflecting a 10.2% year-on-year increase, with doctor density improving to 3.35 per 1,000 population. This growing clinical capacity, when paired with digital platforms, significantly improves patient access to specialists and reduces wait times.

Hospital infrastructure, too, is being managed more efficiently. With an optimal bed occupancy rate of 75%, healthcare providers are increasingly able to balance utilisation with surge readiness, an essential capability in a region experiencing both population growth and rising chronic disease prevalence.

The role of insurance in enabling connected care

Mandatory health insurance has emerged as a crucial enabler of the connected care ecosystem across the GCC. In markets such as the UAE, near-universal insurance coverage for residents has already transformed access, affordability, and continuity of care. As the system matures, it will be equally important to ensure that long-term residents, including Golden Visa holders, are brought under mandatory, comprehensive health insurance frameworks, enabling a sustained shift from episodic treatment to preventive and value-based care.

Uniform coverage allows healthcare systems to shift focus from acute intervention to preventive and chronic disease management, strengthening risk pooling and improving population health outcomes. By 2026, insurance data integrated with clinical systems will play a central role in driving value-based care, where outcomes, not volumes, define success.

Speed, precision, and patient experience

In a fully connected care model, operational efficiency translates directly into better patient experience. Imagine a cardiac patient whose wearable devices continuously transmit vital data to their physician, seamlessly integrated into the EMR. A virtual consultation follows, supported by AI-driven trend analysis, leading to a digital prescription fulfilled by an online pharmacy, often within 30 to 60 minutes.

This is not a distant vision. Elements of this model already exist across the UAE, supported by rising investment in telehealth, remote monitoring, AI diagnostics, and digital pharmacies. With GCC healthcare expenditure projected to grow from $109.1 billion in 2024 to $159 billion by 2029, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8%, the scale and pace of innovation will only accelerate.

Data-driven healthcare for a changing demographic

Demographics make this transformation imperative. The UAE’s population is projected to reach 11.1 million by 2030, with the proportion of residents aged 65 and above rising from 1.1% to 4.4%. This ageing population, combined with a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases, demands a healthcare model that is continuous, coordinated, and cost-effective.

Connected care allows providers to manage chronic conditions more effectively, reduce hospital admissions, and support ageing populations with dignity, while maintaining system sustainability.

Looking ahead

By 2026, healthcare leaders in the GCC will be those who have mastered the operational choreography of connected care, where data flows seamlessly, clinicians collaborate effortlessly, and patients experience care as a continuous journey rather than isolated encounters.

The GCC, led by the UAE, has both the vision and the infrastructure to achieve this. The challenge now is execution, refining systems, aligning stakeholders, and embedding digital-first thinking into everyday clinical practice.

The future of healthcare in the region will not be built brick by brick, but connection by connection, and that future is already taking shape.

Dr Azad Moopen is Founder Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare