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Arab Health Exhibition, Congress opens

Arab Health Exhibition and Congress, the Middle East’s largest healthcare event, which takes place from 28-31 January 2013 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre was inaugurated today by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance.

The four-day event runs until the end of this week is in its 38th year and is the largest event across the region and the second largest in the world. Featuring over 3,500 exhibitors from 63 countries and more than 7,500 conference delegates, it is attended by more than 80,000 healthcare professionals as they aim to tackle the growing diverse health issues across the Middle East ranging from the increasing demand for healthcare services, growing healthcare costs and the increase of lifestyle diseases in the region.

The United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Michael H. Corbin, said: “For the United States, the annual Arab Health trade show has proven to be an excellent opportunity to showcase America’s leadership in all aspects of healthcare to a worldwide audience. Exhibitors will show how to reduce risk, increase safety, save time, money and energy, and get better outcomes everywhere from the operating room to the laundry to the COO’s office. Last year, for example, U.S. businesses signed some $40 million in contracts. With more than 181 U.S. companies present this year, I fully expect that Arab Health 2013 will prove, yet again, why U.S. exhibitors want to come to the United Arab Emirates. I can think of no better venue to highlight U.S. cutting edge medical technology to the international market.”

Simon Page, Managing Director, Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, organisers of Arab Health, said: “This year’s event is one of the strongest we have seen in terms of numbers of exhibitors, conference speakers and attending delegates. This reconfirms Arab Health as the key regional and international platform for the healthcare industry to share leading edge products and innovations, industry insights and trend forecasts plus the latest updates that impact our ever evolving industry.”

This year, major delegations have come from China with 428 participating companies (40 per cent increase from 2012), India with over 111 companies (5 per cent increase from last year) and United Arab Emirates, with more than 200 companies exhibiting (10 per cent increase). Large representations also come from France, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan with upwards of 100 companies each.

“It is also a clear vote of confidence in the continuing development of the region’s healthcare sector, which is estimated to triple its spending to $133.19bn in 2018,” said Page.

Key topics being discussed at the Arab Health Congress include big data, robotic surgery, and complementary medicine and, for the first time, the Congress will host a dedicated diabetes conference.

More than 7,500 delegates are expected to attend the 19 healthcare conferences over the next 4 days. Some of the notable speakers at the event include Jane Griffiths, Director of Nursing, Rashid Hospital, Dubai, UAE; Dr. Norran H. Said, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt, Egypt; Dr. Hadiel M. Azzam, MRCS (Glasg.), Senior Surgical Resident, General Surgery Department, Dubai Health Authority, UAE; Dr. Jeffrey Burns, Chief, Critical Care Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Faisal Masud, FCCP, FCCM, Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, Vice Chair for Patient Safety and Quality, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA; Dr. Omar K. Hallak, Chief of Interventional Cardiology Department, American Hospital Dubai, Dubai, UAE and John Bergfeld, MD, Director of the Operating Room and Senior Surgeon, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.