Chief Executive Officer Markus Giebel believes that the future of medicine involves personalised, predictive and preventive treatment.

Markus Giebel Chief Executive Officer

Healthcare as we know it adopts a sporadic, reactive approach that focuses on treating rather than preventing ailments – a practice that Markus Giebel, CEO of Eternity Medicine Institute, casually labels as ‘sick care’.

“People often go to a doctor only when they’re sick, but we believe that the healthcare system of the future should be preventive and predictive. We are changing healthcare from a reactive to a proactive mode,” he said.

“How is it possible that my car warns me about my low air pressure in my front left tyre, but nobody warns me about my risk of a heart attack? Why are we able to predict and warn people in the case of many natural disasters, but when one of our friends passes away because of cancer or a sudden stroke we just feel sorry about this ‘inevitable tragic event’? Shouldn’t we rather question whether this tragic event could have been prevented with the proper preventive, predictive health screening approach?”

As the UAE’s first dedicated preventive age management healthcare clinic, Eternity Medicine is positioning itself to be at the forefront of this shift in patient care focus. Established in the United States, the company opened its first Middle East polyclinic in Dubai in 2012, initially tapping the region’s affluent population. Today, its patient base is more diversified, comprising of corporate accounts, physician referrals and thousands of clients interested in health screening.

Giebel, who was previously the CEO of Deyaar, a publicly traded real estate company, said the market potential is huge, with healthcare screening poised to become a $1-trillion industry as the practice continues to gain traction.

“We started Eternity Medicine because we saw a market in the making and it’s a sector where everybody wants to be. Who wouldn’t want to live longer and feel/look better? Our primary goal is to safeguard your life, increase your vitality and provide you with the P&L (Profit and Loss) statement of your health.”

P & L your health now with this unique Eternity application

The P&L of Health

Eternity Medicine’s approach to managing their patient’s health can be described as integrative. It engages its patients as informed and empowered partners by providing them with comprehensive yet easy-to-understand report on the state of their health.

“We manage our patients’ health the same way we manage a company. We identify the good points and risk factors in a patient’s health and our physicians give them a health forecast, specifying the goal, methods and timeframe needed to achieve this objective,” he said.

The health forecast is evident-based (as per the screening’s results) and personalised depending on the patient’s needs, circumstances and unique conditions.

Giebel added that they seek to make healthcare management a positive experience for their patients, while emphasising the life-changing significance of prevention, early intervention and health maintenance.

The 47-year-old CEO often cites the ‘car analogy’ to demonstrate the importance of regular medical screening and health maintenance. “Twenty years ago, people drove their car until it broke down. By that stage, it becomes a very unpleasant experience with the car stalling in the middle of nowhere and you end up requiring a towing service.

“These days, that scenario rarely happens because 1) cars have on-board diagnostics or technology that allows it to self-diagnose and report on the vehicle’s condition; and 2) we bring our car in for service every six months. This combination has given cars a longer life cycle and better performance,” he explained.

While admitting that a human body is more complex than an automotive, Giebel said the principle of combining technology with regular health check-ups would play a key role in the evolution of healthcare within and outside the Middle East.

Innovation at the Core of Healthcare

Every patient at Eternity Medicine gets a dedicated app, which has access to the company’s proprietary Eternity Precision Software (EPS), a powerful platform capable of automating patient database, including test results, prescriptions and doctor recommendations; as well as tailor-making programmes, among others. The Eternity Medicine app is also available on the Android app store and soon on the Apple Store.

Developing the app and the EPS, according to Giebel, is another way of making health maintenance a more interactive and interesting experience for patients. The database on the app is updated real-time and can be accessed offline without Internet connection, anywhere in the globe.

The app has a built-in fitness tracker that automatically tracks steps, distance, calories burned, sleep patterns and heart rate. It works as an ideal programme in wearable devices such as those manufactured by Fitbit.

Corporate Programmes

Eternity already manages the health of many corporate clients. Where the full executive programme delivers a 24-page health P&L and takes 4 .5 hours, staff screening is available for the whole organisation and can be conducted in 20 minutes per employee.

 The Eternity mobile nurse unit sets up a health screening operation within a company’s conference room and can screen hundreds of employees. Results are automatically produced through the Eternity Health APP and delivered within 24 hours.

Giebel mentioned that “the best part of it is that in many cases, the insurance pays for the tests and the screening comes at no cost to the corporation”. Further anonymous corporate health charts can be developed to measure the health of any corporation.

 Growth Plan

Giebel said Eternity Medicine will continue to attract some of the world’s best physicians through a rotational strategy that allows them to work for two months at a time in Dubai and return to their home base (for example, the US). Visiting doctors, who are acclaimed in their respective fields, will also train the facility’s in-house physicians, promoting knowledge transfer in the Middle East medical sector.

Aside from its clinic in Dubai, Eternity Medicine is also widening its GCC footprint with the opening of its outlet in Riyadh, with plans to launch a second facility in the same Saudi Arabian city and another in Jeddah. Giebel confirmed that they are also in talks to open a branch in Turkey and are close to inaugurating a facility in Abu Dhabi. This expansion strategy has been lined up for 2015–2016.

To grow the business further, Giebel said he aims to franchise the company’s exclusive software, giving physicians, hospitals and medical facilities worldwide access to the technology that they hope will revolutionise global healthcare.