Dubai: In an innovative, digital health-care breakthrough, Al Futtaim Health Hub, a leading health-care conglomerate, and Met Life Insurance have entered into a partnership to provide an end-to-end digital health-care solution to patients. The service will be rolled out from July in Dubai. More than 10,000 residents have been active users in a pilot programme that has been up and running for the past three months in Dubai.
End-to-end digital health-care solution
While the pandemic helped patients to get used to telehealth and remote consultations initiated by most health-care facilities, this partnership goes a step ahead with Smart Doc services powered by MetLife’s Care Anywhere Digital Platform. Initially, the service will be limited to MetLife’s corporate insurance members, but will be made accessible to all patients aiming to provide accessibility to blue-collar workers as well.
How will Smart Doc work?
The service will be managed through the Smart Doc device. Once a patient calls in for a remote consultation, a nurse from HealthHub/Tashafi clinics will deliver a multi-gadget device to the patients’ premises. The device will then connect the patient to a specialist in real time for a full diagnosis. Through reading the patient’s vital parameters such as blood pressure, blood sugar, Electro Encephalogram, Electro Cardiogram, a detailed examination of any organ such as the eye or ear via a special health-care enabled camera, the results of the tests will be recorded with the consulting specialist. If the patient requires immediate hospitalisation, the staff will advise accordingly.
Health care at your doorstep
However, the results will enable the specialist to take an informed decision and prescribe medicines, which are then delivered to the patient’s home. “It is a complete end-to–end health-care solution — a first-of-its-kind facility that will be initially rolled out in Dubai and then in the neighbouring emirates, the Gulf Cooperation Council and then the entire region. We are not only focusing on quality, but also the continuum of health care. Through this system, we strive to make it accessible to all,” said Dr Haidhar Al Yousuf, managing director of Al Futtaim Health.
An out-of-the-box solution
Describing the programme as “the need of the hour”, Andrew Stocker, head of Employee Benefits at MetLife Gulf, said: “Over the last year, MetLife has been evaluating health-care trends, consumer behaviours and customers’ evolving needs. What we see in the data matches what we hear from our customers. They want expanded access to virtual care that will allow them to address both acute and chronic conditions wherever they are.”
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Providing regulatory support
Saleh Al Hashimi, CEO of Dubai Health Insurance Corporation, Dubai Health Authority, that has, as a regulatory authority, provided its stamp of approval to the service and emphasised the need for such innovative digital solutions in smart health-care delivery in the country. “UAE’s health-care sector has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade. Providing world class health care is one of the six pillars of the National Agenda, in line with Vision 2021, and we are focused on implementing the appropriate regulations to ensure we are aligned with the best global practices.”
