The Healing Touch

Dr. K.P. Hussain, Chairman and CEO, Fathima Healthcare Group talks about the emerging trends in healthcare and patient care in the region

People’s health is the most important priority in human life. The three major essentials to life are food, shelter and the most important of all, health. Our objective is to drive always towards better health and care. With that concept in mind, over the past 25 years, FMC Healthcare group has been driving itself towards this concept.

After continuous research in the year 2000, FMC Healthcare Group took the initiative to safeguard public health which was the need of the hour. Our study showed a huge gap while covering medical services to a large number of blue collared members of the society.

FMC was confident enough to provide the most valuable and a sustainable healthcare with the help of government organisations and insurance companies in UAE. Today, we are extremely delighted to inform that over 90 per cent of the population is insured, and therefore we feel our research and the hard work helped us to avail this achievement.

Adapting to the pandemic

One of the most unexpected calamities that the world has seen is Covid-19. During this pandemic, all the technology and relevant applications that were made available by the government to support and care for human health, helped us to plan and implement the best possible solutions for.

We are moving forward with various healthcare segments to map the next level of change in patient care. Some key initiatives in this regard are teleconsultations for chronic patients, refilling of medicines etc.

In terms of management of various health care segments, we formulated a revised theory in terms of minimising unnecessary expenditures and working with a planned and modified budget for future, helping to enhance development of both the insurance and the medical service provider market.

Healthcare in the UAE

The Covid-19 pandemic has no doubt changed the way the market operates; service level entities have modified their physical and non-physical working atmospheres. We are currently studying the changes in the market and how it differs to the traditional setup we once knew. The physical acts of patient and healthcare institutions will now revolve around two main segments. The first being when the physical need is required, the related examinations and services given are obviously vitally important during the time of patient need. In this situation, patients will not only need a physical examination, but also a high level of technology and access to equipment not widely available and usually only found in healthcare institutions. In this case it would be compulsory to visit a healthcare institution. Alternatively, others do not need to visit a healthcare institution; simply needing the availability and resources to carry out self-testing. We have seen this trend increase more and more recently, not only limited to the checking of blood pressure and blood sugar but many others functions. Teleconsultations are also rapidly gaining popularity, there are modified reagent medical test devices that are helping users to self-assess and reach out to a physician and receive feedback and advice, if needed. This model of work is progressing rapidly and I am visualising that these two segments may start to actively divide.

FMC brings a modern approach in understanding the country’s health facilities. Our health management team is adapting to adhere and coordinate with these upcoming changes and their requirements.

Focusing on cost-effective and affordable healthcare has always been our slogan. For 25 years, FMC has been serving this great nation by relentlessly working with government and private health partners to keep the costs of healthcare low. Our administration constantly analyses and studies data to facilitate the same. We will soon be sending our model of cost-effective management to government entities, insurance companies and medical service providers, to urge them to only do need-based treatment.

Core strength of the group

As we deal with public health, we strive to bring solutions that serve the public. We get the most experienced people to address this very crucial aspect of our society. Our agile team is our biggest strength, we never compromise on the quality of the services we provide and that is what I attribute our success to. Today, on the 25th year of our journey in this country, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my entire team, who works very hard to achieve all of our ambitious goals.