Advancements in healthcare helps save lives, cause better patient outcomes and make lives easier. During the UAE Innovation Week 2016, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) launched a number of initiatives including:

Qalby (My Heart)

This small wireless device can remotely monitor a patient’s heart rate and is ideal for people with frequent symptoms that require short-term cardiac monitoring for up to 30 days. Presently, when a patient with health complaints such as palpitations and episodes of fainting or frequent dizziness visits a cardiologist at a DHA hospital, the patient undergoes tests and receives a monitoring device, which stays with them for 48 hours.

With the introduction of this new technology, the patient only needs to wear a patch, which is wireless, and keep a small portable device with them that transmits all the data from the patch. The patient can wear the patch during showers and the patches need replacing only once a week.

The patient is monitored for one month as against one week. If the patient is experiencing any discomfort, in addition to automatic monitoring, they can press the button on their patch and a notification is sent to the control centre.

Data from six minutes before the irregularity and two minutes after is automatically downloaded and this information will be received by the cardiology department in the hospital. The data transmitter, which needs to be within a distance of nine metres from the patient, can be carried in the pocket or purse.

For patients who rarely experience palpitations or episodes of dizziness, monitoring them and diagnosing the reason can be tricky. Therefore, Qalby’s other small 2cm device, which can be implanted just under the skin of their chest, is a boon.

Pedal away while you wait

The DHA will soon begin installing stationary bikes across all waiting areas in the DHA health facilities and, in future, will collaborate with other government authorities to install these bikes across the city’s public spaces – including parks – to encourage exercise.

Dr Wafa Ayesh, Director of Clinical Nutrition at the DHA, said: “We need to find innovative ways to present exercise opportunities to our community and to encourage them to lead an active life.”

Tummy Fish App for kids

Four to six-year-olds now have access to a virtual pet, which encourages them to drink more water, with the launch of the Tummy Fish book and mobile app. The app features a fish that appears to swim in a child’s belly. It gets happier and livelier when the child consumes more water and sad and slow when the child needs water.