Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) provides insights for healthcare professionals on proper PPE use, proper face mask protocol and more. It also provides a guide to patients right from the signs and symptoms to look out for during the pandemic as well as the importance of double masking and many more other frequently asked questions.
On the sidelines of Arab Health, Daily Dose caught up with Sukhdeep Sachdev, Global Chief Executive Officer, Leader Healthcare, to find out how the company has responded to the COVID-19 crisis.
He said that there was a lot of conversation around how rapidly COVID-19 can be diagnosed at the start of the pandemic and what can be done to tackle post-COVID-19 issues effectively. Life Sciences became an important focus area and, therefore, in April 2020, Leader Life Sciences was formed.
“We have worked with both the Abu Dhabi and Dubai governments and helped them build labs in a record time of 10 days. These are biosafety level type three labs, which would usually take up to three to four months to build, but we did it in 10 days. That is something our team is very proud of,” he shared.
Leader Life Sciences is present at Medlab along with its partner Cellink, a company specializing in advanced bioprinting technologies for pharmaceuticals and drug development. Cellink’s products, such as the 3D processor, can replicate any kind of tissue that can be built in a 3D printed environment. “We are very proud to have such an association at this point in time,” he added.
Sachdev said that COVID-19 was an opportunity for healthcare leaders to showcase their company’s capabilities and to bring together all the resources, technologies and equipment needed. “It was a time for us to go and stand by the nation and to flex our muscles in a good way,” he said.
He also stressed that during these testing times, it was essential to give back to the community. To fulfil this promise, Leader Healthcare was committed to building field hospitals.
“We were able to bring all the technology that was needed to survive the pandemic. We also focused on training, education, and after-sales service, during these turbulent times. So COVID-19, while challenging, also provided a learning curve for leaders,” he added.
Commenting on the theme of Arab Health this year, ‘United by Business’, he said that we are living in a time where accessing clinicians and physicians physically was tough, and people had to practice social distancing. But the business has to go on. “We have several businesses and have thought about how we can combine resource management between different business units,” he said.
For Leader Healthcare, AI is a big focus area, but during the pandemic, the focus was on trying to pull everything together and seeing how different technological solutions interact with each other.
“Over the last year and a half, we have been able to gather a lot of data,” explained Sachdev. “Now, we are working on processing and reforming this data. AI and machine learning became fancy words for many of us, but all of this is dependent on data. With big data, you can accumulate the data and process and assess it to mitigate the risk and see what applies to you. If the investment is not made in these tools, businesses won’t be able to meet customer requirements. Moreover, with these tools, resources can be put to better use and enhance the overall performance.”
When asked about future partnerships, Sachdev highlighted that Leader Healthcare Group wants to disrupt the market. “In September, we will be launching another company that will be focusing on biotech and pharmaceuticals,” he shared. The reason for venturing into pharmaceuticals, he said, was because worldwide, over 10,000 patents are going to go away, which will lead to a significant gap in the marketplace. This move will help the company in bringing generics into the marketplace.
In conclusion, he said that companies need to make sure that people are their first priority. “In a short while, 70 per cent of our population will be millennials, and they will need to be groomed. This is a major focus area for Leader Healthcare, and we are working towards bringing their dreams to life,” he said.
According to the latest report by management consultancy firm Arthur D. Little, new technologies are set to accelerate data-driven healthcare transformation in the Middle East in the coming decade. The report entitled “Data-driven healthcare: Analysing the forces driving the transformation of healthcare” explores emerging technology trends including issues around increased data gathering.
The report highlights that digital transformation in healthcare is the key to enhancing quality, boosting access, and driving efficiency. Moreover, it projects that clinical workflow will become more agile by virtue of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics, ultimately automating decision-making processes while many important technologies reach mainstream adoption.
“As we look ahead to the coming years, the influence and impact of emerging technologies are already apparent. Because of the fundamental reform they deliver, a data-driven transformation is the first step in moving the industry forward,” says Vikas Kharbanda, Partner and Healthcare practice lead at Arthur D. Little Middle East. “Big data is particularly significant for healthcare players due to the benefits it offers. It allows for more accurate staffing, standardised treatments, and fewer medication errors which will entirely re-imagine existing medical practices.
“Institutions at the earliest stages of their data-driven transformation journeys can take encouragement from various success stories where we have already seen emerging technologies implemented successfully across the Middle East,” he adds.
Big data, in particular, is the trigger to move the healthcare industry forward. Big data analysis aggregates information and makes possible the identification of patterns and trends. For the healthcare industry, big data can provide several important benefits, including:
The report describes how the healthcare industry faces change in the next years to transform patient care. In this early stage of this revolution, trends such as the growing acceptance of wearable healthcare devices, cloudification, and the incorporation of AI into healthcare are coming into play. These new technologies generate a massive quantity of data that must be processed and secured to create value.
In conclusion, the report finds that various stakeholders are driving the transformation of the healthcare industry. Government can promote the implementation of integrated systems and knowledge sharing, while private institutions may supply specific analytics skills. However, individuals are, in some cases, reluctant to share data if they are unable to benefit from it. Finally, the culture within healthcare organisations and the lack of appropriate analytics skills may impede change.
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Press Release
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Gilead Sciences recently hosted the third edition of ‘B- Connected’, an annual event that brings together disease experts in the management of viral hepatitis, primarily hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV). This year’s event followed a hybrid format which saw in-person attendance at live events in Dubai and Jeddah, with global attendees from the UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, China, U.S., Turkey, Germany, Korea, Spain, and Italy convening over virtual platforms in line with the latest COVID-19 safety guidelines.
The event series seeks to close current gaps in epidemiological or health economic studies on chronic HBV in the region. The burden of viral hepatitis in the Middle East is considered high, based on clinical observation and deaths from chronic HBV complications.
Among the highlights of the event, Dr Faisal Sanai, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Transplant Hepatologist at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah discussed a ten-point policy framework which would start with a thorough assessment of the burden of the disease and economic impact of HBV. This would then support the implementation of a comprehensive, measurable, and applicable referral pathway for linkage of primary care physicians to specialists. Other points within the framework include the addition of specific checkpoints in the referral pathway to ensure successful patient transition and the use of key performance indicators to assess the referral pathway.
Further action points within the framework include the design and establishment of a tracking system in association with the Ministry of Health to monitor HBV patients (e-tracking), the implementation of age-targeted screening (for populations over 30 years of age), alongside the customisation of screening campaigns as per specific regional needs across the Kingdom.
Within this framework, targets and incentives would also be set up for laboratories that are screening for HBV with the creation of free e-modules for HCPs and specifically for primary care physicians (PCPs) who may often serve as the first point of contact for HBV patients. Medical education through CME (Continuous Medical Education) credits upon module completion is also being prioritised. The framework was rounded off by a call for an increase of awareness for HBV patients through counselling sessions.
Over the two days, experts also joined keynote sessions, panel discussions and open Q&As that focused on advancing patient-centric strategies, also addressing the various roadblocks that are currently preventing optimized patient outcomes.
Dr Faisal Aba-Alkhail, President of the Saudi Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and Transplantation, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh said, “We need to sustain our trajectory towards supporting the healthcare system in KSA in eliminating hepatitis completely by 2030, in line with the goals of the World Health Organization. The proposed framework will not only support elimination, but also streamline medical education, patient awareness, screening, and the establishment of a national level patient registry.”
The pre-engagement survey in KSA outlined that implementing screening campaigns are the highest priority (78 per cent). Key touchpoints in the screening model discussed included premarital screening, pre-employment, blood donors, pregnant women, family members, intimate contacts of infected; in-patient procedures; initiation of immunosuppressant therapy or pre-cancer or pre-transplant; health care workers and medical students.
Dr Sameer Alawadhi is a Consultant Physician and Head of Gastroenterology at Rashid Hospital in Dubai and President of the Emirates Gastroenterology Society, added, “It is important for us to collectively identify and share best-practice learnings and analyse together the challenges that patients infected with hepatitis are facing in the region. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the care model of patients suffering from hepatitis, especially screening campaigns. Elimination models will need to be redesigned to circumvent these challenges that are unique to every country.”
Frederico Silva, General Manager, Gilead Sciences, Middle East highlighted, “We are committed to ensuring that our breakthroughs are advancing global health and creating possibilities. Within HCV, we have delivered four curative treatments in less than four years. Similarly, innovation has enabled HBV to become more of a chronic disease with the life expectancy of patients significantly increased. To ensure the best patient outcomes, Gilead frequently collaborates with industry partners, including healthcare providers to support patients with access to treatment- working with governments, patient organizations, payers, and healthcare providers to increase awareness, drive screening and facilitate linkage to care. This event series has been supporting us with establishing and growing a patient-focused ecosystem.”
Viral hepatitis kills around 1·5 million people worldwide every year. The World Health Organization has set the goal of eradicating hepatitis B and C by 2030.
