GE Healthcare will unveil its latest range of diagnostic imaging technologies, services and solutions at Arab Health 2008.

Arab Health is Middle East’s largest healthcare exhibition and will be held from January 28 to 31, 2008, at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre.

Today, the region faces a number of significant and serious healthcare challenges: life expectancy lags behind developed countries, the population is both increasing and ageing, and its citizens suffer some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world.

The cost of treatment for cardiovascular disease alone is set to increase significantly over the next twenty years. These healthcare challenges are not only affecting the current reality of healthcare across the region, but it is also fast-changing the outlook and demand, region-wide, said an official spokesman.

GE’s “Healthcare Re-imagined” vision promotes the “Early Health” model of care – helping clinicians re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform and treat disease, so their patients can live their lives to the fullest. 

This is the company’s focused response to the projected rise in healthcare costs in the GCC region from $12 billion today to $60 billion by 2025.

“The Middle East has new market drivers today such as a strong private sector, the emergence of health tourism, enterprise selling and shifts in health insurance policies. In parallel, the trend in manageable disease conditions such as obesity, diabetes and stress are on the rise. GE’s ‘Healthcare Re-imagined’ approach encourages healthcare providers and the public to consider shifting their focus from late disease to early health, where there can be many more treatment options – which ultimately benefits the patient,” said general manager at GE Healthcare for the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Turkey (MECAT) region, Isam Moursy.

GE’s comprehensive portfolio to be highlighted at this year’s Arab Health 2008 will introduce a new level to the healthcare industry and have a profound impact on medical diagnostics in the Middle East.

GE’s “Healthcare Re-Imagined” vision has practical applications with modern disease conditions.

“Cardiac patients, for example, have a 45 per cent chance of survival if treatment begins at onset of symptoms. An ‘Early Health’ model using diagnostic tools such as cardiac biomarkers, non-invasive diagnostic imaging, targeted therapies, and IT-based disease management can nearly double the survival rates from cardiac disease,” said Moursy.

Today, 70 to 80 per cent of the resources in healthcare are devouted to managing symptom-based, advanced diseases.

Arab Health is the annual international hospital, medical equipment and services exhibition and conference. GE Healthcare’s products, services and clinical images will be on display at the company’s stand (Hall 4 - Stand 4D20) at the exhibition in the Dubai International Exhibition Centre. - TradeArabia News Service