Mohamed bin Zayed reviews hospital project

General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, reaffirmed that the healthcare sector in the UAE receives unlimited support from President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is keen on providing state-of-the-art healthcare services that ensure the wellbeing of all UAE residents.

The statement came during a visit by Sheikh Mohamed to the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi project, where he reviewed the progress of the hospital project scheduled to begin seeing patients in 2015.

"We will spare no effort to improve all development and social sectors through effective partnerships and constructive cooperation with highly qualified international organisations in order to improve the quality and efficiency of our healthcare services and develop our national capacity both on the level of managing and operating our healthcare institutions and on the performance level of medical and paramedical staff," said the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. By building such strong partnerships with highly efficient organisations, we aim to transfer successful corporate cultures and systems in order to develop our vital sectors and make a qualitative move with regards to our services, particularly in the healthcare sector, which is considered a top priority by our wise leadership, who gives utmost attention to the wellbeing of Emiratis and UAE residents".

Upon arrival at the multi-specialty hospital built on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed was received by Dr Delos (Toby) Cosgrove, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic US; Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director and Group CEO of Mubadala Development Company, Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Mubadala's Deputy Group CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi; Suhail Mahmood Al Ansari, Executive Director of Mubadala Healthcare; and Dr Marc Harrison, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, in addition to other executives. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was accompanied by Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Vice Chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, and a number of Abu Dhabi Executive Council members.

Sheikh Mohamed and the audience listened to a briefing on the vision and values that the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi strives to provide in order to become a preeminent medical center and the best choice for patients in the region. This vision includes providing outstanding patient experiences, superior clinical outcomes, and improved quality of life for the people it serves in the context of fiscal and social responsibility. 

Operating under a Patient Centered Model of Care and embodying a ‘Patients First philosophy,’ the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi will deliver on its mission of providing compassionate, patient-centred care of the highest quality, and will be committed to exceeding patients' expectations for comfort and convenience based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Its Group Practice Model of Care, a collaborative, team-based approach to patient care, is unprecedented in the UAE and the GCC region. This model of care will organize a variety of physicians as an integrated team around a particular disease to collaboratively address patient needs. The Group Practice Model of Care has been in place since the foundation of Cleveland Clinic and has proven invaluable to comprehensive patient care.

Sheikh Mohamed toured the hospital, which includes different departments and treatment units of the hospital, starting with the conference centre equipped with the latest presentation technologies and accommodates 200 people for hosting forums, symposiums, workshops and international and local medical events.

During his tour in the hospital, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi visited the Multidisciplinary Simulation Centre, a high-fidelity clinical simulation center that provides trainees with medical consultations and improves their abilities through interconnection between training rooms and operation and treatment rooms and through a CCTV that enables the trainee to monitor treatment and operations and communicate directly with the medical teams.

Sheikh Mohamed viewed the five Centres of Excellence at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, included in the following clinical institutes: Heart & Vascular, Neurological, Digestive Disease, Eye and Respiratory & Critical Care. Other Institutes also include Surgical Subspecialties, Medical Subspecialties, Emergency Medicine, Anesthesiology, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Imaging, and Quality & Patient Safety. The hospital is currently being loaded with the latest medical technology and equipment. To ensure a unique healthcare service, 80 per cent of the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Institute Chiefs have Cleveland Clinic experience.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is a 364 (expandable to 490) bed hospital, with five clinical floors, three diagnostic and treatment levels, 13 floors of critical and acute inpatient units, 240 specialized consultation rooms and 26 operating rooms.

The hospital comprises an acute and critical care nursing unit that includes 72 ICU beds and 292 private inpatient rooms. All areas have telemetry capabilities and will feature the latest technologies and communication systems. The ground floor houses the emergency sections, imaging units, laboratories and reception halls in addition to a number of outpatient clinics.
Thanks to a partnership between Mubadala Development and US-based Cleveland Clinic, the hospital has a creative, environmentally responsible design and efficient operating systems.

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Group CEO and Managing Director, Mubadala Development Company said, "We were honoured to welcome His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. The visit marked a milestone towards the delivery of a key component of Abu Dhabi’s healthcare vision to provide the world’s most advanced medical expertise and facilities to the people of the UAE. It is a vision that is shared by Mubadala and Cleveland Clinic as we strive to address the country’s most pressing healthcare needs through the creation of this highly specialized, world class facility here in Abu Dhabi."

"We have had a tremendous collaboration between Cleveland Clinic and Abu Dhabi and we see the two facilities working hand in glove with each other", said Dr. Delos (Toby) Cosgrove, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic, who expressed pleasure at seeing physicians who are coming to Abu Dhabi to be of the same caliber as those in Cleveland." 

With regards to the considerations taken into account to make Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi a world-class facility, Dr. Cosgrove said they looked at everything that goes into making a healthcare facility a world class one, including the physical facilities, personnel, and training of the personnel as well as all the finest details of operating and patient room. He added that "From the very beginning, the agreement was that this would be a transfer of our clinical culture and that we would bring everything we possibly could from the Cleveland Clinic and transplant them here, and so we’re very pleased to have the opportunity to do that."

Dr. Marc Harrison, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, said, "Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi would not be possible if it wasn’t for the great collaboration between Abu Dhabi’s leadership and Cleveland Clinic’s ability to execute on healthcare. Together we’re doing unbelievable things that have never been done anywhere in the world before." He added that the agreement between Abu Dhabi and Cleveland Clinic was to replicate the culture of the latter in Abu Dhabi, and to that end, they have been bringing the best people, processes and technologies, and also hired many people from Cleveland Clinic who have come to Abu Dhabi to make their life and to make a difference in healthcare."
 
He added that the building is now being commissioned and loaded with medical equipment. So far, he said, the hospital has been equipped with 30,000 pieces of medical equipment, 20,000 pieces of furniture, and 20,000 pieces of IT equipment. Dr. Harrison also mentioned that many people are joining the team, and more than 1,500 people will join between now and the opening of the hospital.

On his part, Suhail Mahmood Al Ansari, Executive Director of Mubadala Healthcare and board member of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, said that the first thing that came onto the table was how to attract the best partner to establish a preeminent acute care hospital for Abu Dhabi. ‘Naturally, the long term relationship with Cleveland Clinic that Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates has had historically helped us in identifying the right partner who shares the same vision and commitment as we do to establish this partnership. The partnership is extremely deep; it’s not one of just a few years, but rather one where we truly transfer culture across borders between Ohio and Abu Dhabi to establish such a center that brings up the best of the best.

He added that the clinical expertise and patient experience that the Cleveland Clinic has can be far more successfully delivered in Abu Dhabi when the right people are behind it. "When we have a tremendous commitment from our partner that deploys and commits to us its top caliber that call Abu Dhabi a home and base themselves over here, working hand in hand and side by side with Mubadala, our efforts result in us being where we are today", he further said.

Al Ansari also said that the construction works on the building were completed in April 2014, and that they are now ‘clinically activating the building’ by furnishing it with all the medical equipment, technology and personnel, and commissioning its management systems and clinical spaces.

Pics: Wam

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