Kuwait Times, Wednesday, May 19, 2021 | Shawwal 7, 1442
Amiri Hospital sets new benchmarks for digital healthcare services in Kuwait
Kuwait: Amiri Hospital, one of Kuwait’s most established
medical facilities, has leveraged new network architecture from Aruba, a Hewlett
Packard Enterprise company, to pioneer new innovations and standards in digital
health, telemedicine and in-patient care in Kuwait. The implementation has
resulted in 99.9 percent network availability, enabled introduction of remote
healthcare, staff mobility, and other digital healthcare services, facilitated
60 percent reduction in hospital footfall while serving same patient volumes and
increased appointment efficiency by 120 percent.
The IT Infrastructure supports the Health Informatics Platform, employing best
of breed solutions and integrating with existing systems, delivered through the
Kuwait based systems integrator – Ms Virtus Informatics Company WLL. “To enhance
our operations, we were seeking a HIMSS EMRAM Level 5 certification and aimed to
establish ourselves as a Smart Hospital that offers digital services and
advanced technologies for patient care. We recognized that a secure, reliable,
and high-performance network infrastructure would be essential to achieving this
ambition,” said Dr Ali Al-Alanda, Director of the Hospital.
“The Aruba architecture, designed, successfully deployed and NOC managed by the
company’s partner in Kuwait, has enabled an SLA of 99.9 percent at Amiri
Hospital,” said Eng Mazyad Al-Ardi, IT Manager of the Capital Governorate. In
line with its Digital Transformation vision, the hospital now delivers all
services – including registration, appointment setting, and prescription
management – through the Digital Gateway “Derwaza”. “We have set up the Gateway
for the convenience of our patients with seamless and secure access, and
high-performance for a remarkable user experience,” he said.
With a pervasive wireless coverage now in place, underpinned by a robust and
scalable wired network, Amiri hospital has been able to introduce new and
innovative technologies to enhance patient care. “We have implemented over 50
portable devices, that give our medical practitioners instant secure access to
patient records, wherever and whenever they need it,” said Dr Raed Syed Hashem,
Head of Disaster Management Team. “This not only empowers our staff to perform
their duties more effectively, but it also serves as a highly visual example to
patients, of Amiri Hospital’s commitment to pioneering the latest digital
technologies.”
The COVID-19 pandemic best demonstrated the value and capabilities of Aruba’s
infrastructure. “Nearly overnight, we had a pressing need to serve thousands of
patients remotely,” said Dr Hashem. “We suddenly had to manage remote network
access for thousands of people, and the platform not only delivered the
performance we needed, but also effectively protected the network from the fifty
plus attacks and malicious access attempts we typically faced each day,” he
added.
During the lockdown, the hospital successfully migrated 80 percent of its
services to digital channels and consequently were able to reduce the footfall
by 60 percent while still offering world class care to its patients. As pandemic
related restrictions were lifted, Amiri Hospital managed to maintain this
reduction in footfall while enhancing patient and staff satisfaction. “Today, we
still have over 400 patients per day who receive remote consultancy. This is not
only more convenient, but it has also enhanced appointment efficiency by 120
percent as we have been able to manage scheduling and staff utilization in a far
more effective manner,” he said.
The Hospital’s IT team is looking to continue to use Aruba’s solutions in
further innovative projects. It is currently assessing Aruba’s Meridian mobile
engagement platform to facilitate wayfinding and location-based services around
the hospital to enhance patient experience while also preventing overcrowding in
corridors and other common areas. It is also testing an asset management system
based on Aruba Asset Tags, to enable better inventory management and prevent
equipment like oxygen tanks and wheelchairs from going missing.
“Because it works silently in the background, the network isn’t something staff
and patients think about unless something goes wrong. The platform has given us
the confidence to deliver innovation, at scale and at an accelerated pace,” said
Dr Hashem. “With the wellbeing of our patients ultimately dependent on our
network and digital services, this translates to better care and outcomes,” he
concluded.