Middle East to get its first online medical index

An online index for pharmaceutical drugs and hi-tech medical equipment will be launched in September by the Dubai-based Health Information Systems in association with the Technosphere Centre of Excellence of Ajman University of Science and Technology.

Edited by Dr Mazen Tleimat, Software Developer and Project Manager, the index will be launched in Arabic, English and French. It will be sponsored by the university.

"We have the approval of the Ministry of Health for this project. We are also contacting pharmaceutical and hi-tech medical equipment companies seeking their participation," he said. The index will be the first of its kind in the Middle East. "We thought of producing this programme because electronic information nowadays is more readily accessible," Tleimat said.

Another reason is that there is no comprehensive drug reference in the UAE with information and pictures of the drugs and their manufacturers.

"The idea was welcomed by doctors and pharmacists. We will distribute around 10,000 copies of the programme free of charge to doctors, pharmacists, medical centres, public and private hospitals, medical education faculties and institutes, Tleimat said. The programme will be upgraded annually.

"The programme interface will have three essential parts: the main picture, the pharmaceutical button and the hi-tech medical equipment button.

"All a user need do is press the 'pharmaceutical button' and he will get into the pharmaceutical database where the list of the last query appears. It consists of the product name, company name, product form, price, composition and classification," Tleimat said.

Upon double-clicking any product line, the programme will display information about the drug and its manufacturer.

"This new system will make it simple for doctors and pharmacists to deal with drugs and other related data." Tleimat has been working in medical information technology for 12 years. He has translated 14 medical books from English into Arabic. "I have been working hard to produce the new system for four years," he said.