HMI to play key role in developing
Dubai Healthcare City

HMI and the Dubai Healthcare City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, have announced a partnership that will bring education programs and quality assurance standards to a health care complex in Dubai that aims to become a regional center for medical care, education, and research. The new relationship will allow HMI to increase the depth of its involvement in improving the quality of healthcare delivery and education in the Middle East.

Representatives from Harvard Medical International visited Dubai in June to launch the new partnership.

HMI will be working with the Dubai government to develop strategies for Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC), a planned complex comprising 3.46 million square feet and including an academic medical center, a wellness center, and a medical complex that together will provide a full range of medical services. HMI will work with DHCC to set up the critical elements of a quality assurance program for the entire site. This overall program will be a starting point for further developing standards and benchmarks that will cut across the entire facility, provide training in the concept of quality management, and offer quality assessment and management tools that can be implemented throughout the DHCC.

Building a “healthcare city” is a taller task than simply creating space and facilities. Dr. Mehul Mehta, vice president and director at HMI, said that, just as important as the physical space is the “soft infrastructure”—specifically quality, knowledge, and education. After discussing plans with representatives from Dubai, it became apparent that DHCC would add much more value if the care and services it provides are integrated, with overarching strategies and standards for its various components. “There need to be overall standards of quality, methods for assessing and auditing quality, and strategies for placing clinical services within the city,” Mehta said. The team will help develop these standards based on international models that take into account local needs and practices.

A second aspect of the partnership will be to develop educational programs for the academic medical center at DHCC. Continuing medical education and postgraduate medical education courses will help train specialty physicians, nurses, and other allied health professionals, and bring updated knowledge and practices to the entire region. Eventually, the partners hope the DHCC will become a center of excellence in medical education, which will complement and strengthen clinical services at DHCC.

Dr. Robert Crone, HMI’s president and CEO, said, “This partnership is an extraordinary opportunity for HMI to fulfill its mission to build local capacity in healthcare through training and the development of quality standards, in a very important region of the world.” Dubai is well positioned to take this kind of leadership role. Dubai has an excellent infrastructure, serves as a regional center for commerce and travel, and has a very diverse, international population.

Dr. Joseph B. Martin, dean of Harvard Medical School, and His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi, Chairman of the Board, Dubai Development and Investment Authority.

The government will be drawing on several clinical, academic, and corporate institutions that will contribute knowledge and resources to ensure the DHCC’s success.

"It is of crucial importance for the success of Dubai Healthcare City to provide an education portfolio that not only provides for physicians but also for nurses, technicians, and all allied healthcare professions,” said Adel Saeed Al Shamsi, Chief Executive Officer, DHCC. “Human resources, quality assurance, and knowledge management are all considered to be critical success factors for Dubai Healthcare City and we have therefore dedicated a lot of effort during the past few months to create a relationship with the best medical education facility, Harvard Medical School. ”

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