UAE: Danat Al Emarat Hospital for Women and Children and HealthPlus Network of Specialty Centers, part of United Eastern Medical Services (UEMedical) Group, announced today a clinical partnership agreement with The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), affiliated with University of Toronto in Canada, to collaborate and advance Pediatric Services in Abu Dhabi.

The collaboration entails the exchange of experience and knowledge; training physicians and nurses; placing SickKids trained physicians at Danat Al Emarat Hospital to care for complicated cases utilizing SickKids international clinical protocols and standards.

The agreement was endorsed by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) and the Canadian Embassy in UAE. It was announced in Abu Dhabi by Majd Abu Zant, Chief Operating Officer at UEMedical and Jeff Mainland, Executive Vice President at SickKids in presence of Mohammed Hamad Al Hameli, Acting Undersecretary at DoH; Masud Husain, Canadian Ambassador in the UAE; Sultan Al Harbi, UAE Consul General in Toronto; Ms. Cathy Seguin, Vice President SickKids International and a number of senior officials from both parties.

After the signing ceremony, Mohammed Hamad Al Hameli, Acting Undersecretary at DoH said, "Bringing in specialized pediatric service lines in the private sector helps fill in capacity gaps which were announced recently by DoH. Moreover, such international partnerships represent another step for Abu Dhabi healthcare sector to provide the people of the UAE with quality care comparable to international standards and bringing in international expertise and medical excellence to the region. It also comes in line with the DoH strategic priorities in enhancing tertiary pediatric care accessibility, and improving clinical outcomes through partnering with world renowned academic medical institutions."

Canadian Ambassador Masud Husain stated, "Canada is well-known for its strong healthcare infrastructure and leads in medical research and innovation. We are indeed proud to witness and to support the collaboration between SickKids and Danat Al Emarat Hospital in bringing Canadian medical expertise to the UAE. This is reflective of the strong ties and the mutual trust between the UAE and Canada."

"In line with our commitment to advance pediatric care in Abu Dhabi, our partnership with the internationally renowned SickKids Hospital aims to enhance the quality of tertiary pediatric services at Danat Al Emarat Hospital. It represents a crucial milestone in UEMedical’s strategy to sustain one of the finest private health systems for the Emirate," said Abu Zant from UEMedical.

"To complement Danat Al Emarat’s well-established Pediatrics Department and its full-fledge 23-bed Neonatal Intensive Care level III which is considered one of the largest in Abu Dhabi private sector, we looked at highly demanded clinical specialties which are not available in the private sector and people travel abroad for. Thus, the initial services that will be supported by SickKids will include pediatric orthopedics, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric pulmonology and pediatric neurology. SickKids trained physicians will be working at Danat Al Emarat Hospital and will provide care for complicated and rare cases."

"We are really pleased to announce today our clinical partnership agreement with Danat Al Emarat Hospital and HealthPlus Children’s Center and to bring SickKids expertise to the community of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We have cared for many Emirati kids suffering from complex life-threatening diseases in the past decade and have considered transferring our expertise closer to patients’ home. We were very selective with whom to partner with, UEMedical and SickKids share similar visions and values, thus, our partnership is aiming to jointly improve children’s health through healthcare integration, research and education. We certainly anticipate a long-lasting partnership with UEMedical that benefits the health outcomes for children in UAE and the region," said Ms. Seguin from SickKids.

The agreement also entails physicians from Danat Al Emarat Hospital to be trained at SickKids in Canada as well as contributing to studies and medical research.