Unparalleled Medical Equipment Planning Experience

Awni Kopty, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Hospital Services (UHS), emphasises the importance of medical equipment Awni Kopty, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Hospital Services (UHS), emphasises the importance of medical equipment

The genesis of UHS dates back to 1989 when a unique opportunity presented itself to the organisation. "The inception of UHS was coincidental, when a major architectural firm was awarded the design of a complex hospital project in Abu Dhabi, called 'The Accident and Emergency Hospital'. Approached by a team of architects, UHS was to act as medical equipment consultants. "UHS had to equip each room of the hospital as designed by the architect with essential medical equipment while indicating the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) requirements. This service enabled engineers and subspecialists to develop their designs accordingly. While working on that project, other ventures surfaced requiring the same service of medical equipment planning. At that point, we realised the gap in the market in our geographical area that existed within architecture firms," says Kopty.
Hospital spaces and rooms were previously characterised as dormant functional standalone units, according to the CEO. "These units were rarely correlated with adjacent spaces in the hospital. As the healthcare and digital industry evolved, medical and equipment planning, followed suit. Specialised design standards today govern every aspect of the hospital design process. Today, hospitals are categorised as complex buildings with inter and intra space relationships, and advanced medical equipment requirements."
"Presently, spaces, activities and equipment are mandated to complement each other. They are all monitored by a web of a progressive IT infrastructure that archives and disseminates information to clinical and management staff amongst other users. Furthermore, globally and regionally, hospitals of today are monitored by accrediting institutions to ensure the provision of safe clinical treatment to patients and avoid composite Medico Legal manifestations due to non-compliance," he adds.
According to Kopty, the Gulf region in the last 15 years has witnessed the most ambitious, sophisticated and large-scale hospitals to be built. 
"The hospital design and equipment industry in the Gulf has become exemplary to other Arab and Middle Eastern countries. We are at par with international counterparts and UHS is proud to have been a part of this revolution."
Due to the competitive industry and new reforms introduced, UHS had to develop its own infrastructure to sustain and provide high-quality and automated technical services to comply with today's needs both horizontally and vertically. "Thus, UHS has expanded its services from medical equipment planning at its core, to other related services to assist architects in most aspects of such specialised design services," comments the CEO.
Globally, UHS is one of the largest dedicated medical equipment-planning firms. UHS today also offers services such as medical planning, healthcare ICT planning, interior design, medical waste management, piped medical gas design, food and laundry design services, procurement management, amongst many other related services and in the future UHS is planning to offer university accredited educational training programmes.
"Since 1989, we have completed approximately 300 projects, which ranged from polyclinics, to hospitals (general, referral and military) with areas ranging from 3,000-300,000 square metres. With operations in the Gulf and Middle East, we have additionally executed projects in other countries. From our headquarters in Amman, Jordan with representative marketing and service offices in Beirut, Boston, Damascus, Dubai, Cairo, Vienna, UHS offers its services while aiming to expand its services to Africa and Asia," says Kopty.
"Hospitals today are almost one of the most expensive complex business ventures with high rewards if implemented properly, and high risks if not; thus, there is no room for redundancies, rework or non-compliant works. Medical equipment today can cost 30-35 per cent of the total hospital project. Thus, what you pay for a qualified medical equipment consultant is an already saved investment," relays the CEO.
During the 30 years' experience in the 300 or so projects UHS worked on, UHS realised that  a major deficiency lacks in the equipping and procurement stage for medical equipment. UHS noted that irreparable costly damage in time and money will be afflicted if the Medical Equipment procurement is not managed according to a secure and integrated procurement management methodology.
Thus UHS and to complement its comprehensive project services, is now offering procurement management services and for that reason a specialised software is being developed.
- interviewed by Fatima Abbas

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