Abu Dhabi launches intelligent surgical network with Johnson & Johnson

The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in Abu Dhabi, today announced that it will establish an emirate-wide intelligent surgical network in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson.

The first-of-its-kind globally, the network builds on Abu Dhabi's sovereign, intelligent health infrastructure to scale responsible artificial intelligence (AI) across the emirate's operating rooms, improve patient outcomes, and support clinicians. The collaboration will establish Abu Dhabi as the anchor of a new global ecosystem to advance surgical AI across the world.

 Abu Dhabi builds advanced intelligent health system

The initiative will deploy Johnson & Johnson’s Polyphonic™ open digital ecosystem, in collaboration with existing technology partners including Amazon Web Services (AWS),NVIDIA and Core42. It builds on Abu Dhabi’s integrated provider network to connect operating rooms in Abu Dhabi and

aims to accelerate research, support responsible AI adoption, and create a model of care that is continuously improving.

Abu Dhabi’s intelligent surgical network will connect operating rooms across Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, PureHealth, Mediclinic Group, and NMC Healthcare, giving surgical teams access to advanced analytics and clinical insights at the point of care. This connected model is designed to improve precision, efficiency, training, and consistency of care, while accelerating shared learning, quality improvement, and continued innovation across the emirate and into a global surgical innovation environment.

Speaking to Gulf News; Dr. Noura Khamis Al Ghaithi, Undersecretary of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), said: “Behind every operation is a surgeon making life changing decisions. Abu Dhabi has built one of the world’s most advanced intelligent health systems to enable innovation such as this, harnessing data, AI and shared intelligence to create impact at scale. 

Through our connected surgical network and collaboration with Johnson & Johnson, we are strengthening surgical care, enabling smarter clinical decisions, and ensuring every procedure can help to make the next safer and more precise. Abu Dhabi is not piloting AI in healthcare; we are operationalizing it across our system to deliver measurable impact for our community and beyond.”

She said "Abu Dhabi is ready because we have built the system that makes a project like this possible. Our intelligent health system is AI-native by design, where regulation, infrastructure, and innovation move together. The Emirati Genome Programme plugs into it, BioBank plugs into it, Sahatna plugs into it, and from today, surgery does too. That is what makes Abu Dhabi distinctive: the system itself is the innovation. Other places have AI in a hospital; we have AI in a system. This is the product of decades of vision and foresight, backed by a governance model partners trust. That is why Abu Dhabi is the anchor for an open, interoperable, governed global network of intelligent surgical care."

Regarding maintaining patient safety and clinical oversight, Al Ghaithi said 

“AI here is decision support, not decision making. The surgeon is always in charge. What AI does is give that surgeon more time, more power, and more clarity, surfacing the right information at the right moment, in real time. The Department of Health is the orchestrator and regulator of the network. We set the standards, the governance, and the data sovereignty rules. All surgical data stays within Abu Dhabi's sovereign infrastructure, anonymised and governed by DoH, and our partners operate inside the rules we set. Patients always come first, and that is non-negotiable.”

Noura Al Ghaithi added: "For patients, the intelligent surgical network means that no matter which hospital you walk into, you benefit from the same intelligence in the operating room, with more precise procedures, more consistent standards of care, and a better surgical experience. For clinicians, it means smarter tools, stronger decision support, and greater opportunities for continuous learning across the system. Every case contributes to a continuous learning loop, so best practice spreads quickly and every surgeon benefits from the experience of the whole network. In the coming years, you will see measurable improvements in outcomes, in efficiency, and in the speed at which innovation reaches the bedside, for the people of Abu Dhabi, and for those who choose Abu Dhabi as a medical destination."

Regarding Medical Tourism and Its Role in the Growth of the Economic Sector in Abu Dhabi, Al Ghaithi said: Health is one of Abu Dhabi's strategic priorities, and intelligent infrastructure is how we are raising the standard of care for everyone who comes here. Abu Dhabi is home to people from over 200 nationalities, and this system serves all of them equally, alongside those who choose Abu Dhabi as a medical destination. By connecting our providers, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, PureHealth, Mediclinic, and NMC, under one intelligent surgical network, we are offering patients from around the world consistent, world-class surgical care backed by AI-supported precision and a governed dataset that keeps improving outcomes. That combination of sovereign governance, global-standard providers, and intelligent infrastructure is what makes Abu Dhabi a trusted destination for care, and a meaningful contributor to the wider economy."