The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, announced that Ibrahim Bin Hamad Obaidullah Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah has received the diamond award from the World Stroke Organization (WSO), in recognition of the hospital’s continued efforts in upskilling its stroke management services provided to patients, making it the first in the United Arab Emirates and Gulf Countries to win this prestigious and important award.

The key performance drivers within stroke care have shown a considerable uptake with more than 80% of admitted patients getting the necessary lifesaving intervention in less than 60 minutes. This is coupled with the strong collaboration with the national ambulance service, which pre-notifies the hospital prior to the arrival of any stroke patient, as well as the seamless synergy and cooperation between key departments such as neurology, emergency, and radiology.

In addition, the hospital has embraced key activities that focused on embedding best practices in stroke management including simulations, training programs tailored for nurses and neurologists which were key to helping identify gaps and build more efficiently. These training programs include simulations that are an essential part of learning how to deal with stroke patients, including the use of stopwatches and checklists to ensure reducing the time required from the time a patient enters the hospital to when the treatment is administered.

The Angels World Stroke Organisation Award is an award extended on a quarterly basis by the WSO in partnership with the Angels initiative to recognize the efforts of the stroke centres with the spirit of excellence around the world.

The Angels initiative one of Boehringer Ingelheim’s partnership projects aims at improving stroke care by providing several educational platforms that are endorsed and approved by both the WSO and the European Stroke Organization (ESO). The initiative facilitates the enrollment of stroke centres on registries for the purpose of quality monitoring and to influence the spirit of excellence. According to the key performance indicators captured on these registries, centres can qualify for the award.

A well-deserved achievement

Lauding the outstanding achievement, HE Dr. Youssif Al Serkal, Director-General of the Emirates Health Services Corporation said such awards are a testament to the efficiency of the UAE’s health system.

“We are reaping the fruits of the country’s investment in the health infrastructure, the attraction of the medical innovations to improve healthcare approaches, the adoption of a proactive care model in diagnostics, the continuation of patient’s treatment journey, and the integration of smart services and AI into the healthcare,” added Al Serkal.

Implementing adopted protocols

Congratulating the hospital team on this prestigious award, Dr. Kalthoum Al Baloushi, Director of MoHAP’s Hospitals Administration, said: “Such recognitions underline the efficiency and commitment to applying all the adopted programs and protocols in a very professional manner to ensure the provision of optimal healthcare services for our patients.”

She pointed out that the development of stroke management and treatment centers would help improve patient experience and achieve faster results of reducing cardiovascular and stroke-related mortalities, stressing MoHAP’s commitment to supporting hospitals with the best solutions and technologies to develop the best medical practices relevant to stroke and heart attack, as well as to provide the necessary training to upskill the competencies of the medical staff according to the best international standards. 

World-class healthcare

On his part, Dr. Yousef El Tayer, Manager for Ibrahim Bin Hamad Obaidallah Hospital, pointed to the hospital’s keenness to constantly develop its stroke management center to enhance the treatment quality. He added: “In 2019, we started quality monitoring, which was facilitated by our partners, Boehringer Ingelheim, in an effort to meet global requirements and drive key performance indicators which include door to needle time, thrombolysis rate, and target post-acute care. This has helped get recognized for three major awards and become the first in the UAE to attain such reputable recognition. This award is a testament to the hard work and efforts to improve processes and patient pathways, in accordance with the best international standards.”

A comprehensive stroke management protocol

Ousama Alhaj, General Manager and Head of Human Pharmaceuticals – Gulf at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “We work tirelessly with our partners in the UAE and the region to develop comprehensive stroke management protocol which focuses on prevention of stroke and fast-tracking treatment to save lives. Together with Ibrahim Bin Hamad Obaidullah Hospital, we have facilitated the necessary channels between the hospital and the World Stroke Organization along with the hospital’s enrollment on prominent registries that help them monitor the performance of their data and map it to global standards.”