Omar Fikree, Executive Director, Abu Dhabi Telemedicine Centre (ADTC) • Interview

Telemedicine took off in the UAE during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is likely to continue to be popular long into the future.

How did ADTC react to the pandemic, and how did you perceive the government’s response?

We are lucky enough to be part of the wider Mubadala Health network, which set up a COVID-19 task force and supporting teams such as a workforce-planning team, to help our facilities and to liaise with the Department of Health and other stakeholders. Naturally, at ADTC we experienced a significant increase in the number of calls to the telemedicine center—at one point, we had a 2,000% increase in call volume. This meant we had to be agile in our decision-making and we had to mobilize a larger team of physicians and contact center agents. Obviously, hiring from the market can normally take a while, especially when it is comes to hiring physicians because there are a lot of different processes and protocols that need to be followed. What we were able to do during the pandemic was to figure out which resources from other facilities we could move to ADTC and then train these caregivers quickly to perform a new role within the telemedicine center. With the help of the workforce-planning team, we also on-boarded and trained physicians from other Mubadala Health facilities who were being underutilized as a result of the pandemic. The increase in demand meant we also had to invest in our technology infrastructure in order to maintain our quality. As for the government, I think it reacted extremely quickly and efficiently. The results spoke for themselves; in the UAE, we were able to contain COVID-19 pretty quickly and at the same time minimize the number of deaths. We had an integrated approach to the pandemic. The government also reduced some of the restrictions, allowing all medical facilities to provide telemedicine services.

In addition, employees who had a medical background were able to move between different facilities without having to go through a lengthy hiring process. In short, the government reacted and adapted effectively to the pandemic.

How has Abu Dhabi performed in terms of telemedicine compared to other parts of the world?

Drawing parallels to the UK and USA, developments were similar as these governments also eased restrictions to support telemedicine. Similarly, a lot of facilities were reimbursed for their services by their governments. There is a common trend between us and other parts of the world in terms of increased access to telemedicine, which is being facilitated by fewer regulatory limitations and restrictions.

How will the coronavirus crisis impact the health sector, and what lessons have been learned?

The biggest lesson is to always build your organization in a way that is flexible. It is also important to have a plan B. We changed the way the organization functioned overnight, and, for example, procured a large number of laptops to allow people to work from home when it was necessary. We really limited the number of people coming into the office to reduce the risk of contamination. As a service provider, it is always good to have multiple services and not put all your eggs in one basket. We were fortunate to be given the opportunity to work on a remote care monitoring program as it allowed us to offer a new service and explore other possibilities. Looking to the future, I think we are going to see a shift toward digital health as people are going to be more focused on preventative medicine. Moving forward, patients are going to be more conscious of lifestyles choices. In addition, physicians and medical facilities will connect more with each other, leading to better outcomes for the patient. We will see trends like tele-ICU and tele-surgery emerging.