Abu Dhabi – August 07, 2019: Malaffi, the new Abu Dhabi Health Information Exchange platform, and the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi (DOH), have marked today a significant milestone. Select clinicians from four major healthcare providers - SEHA, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Danat Al Emarat Hospital and Oasis Hospital in Al Ain – have successfully started utilising the platform.

Established as a Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) between the DOH and Injazat Data Services, Malaffi is the Middle East’s first Health Information Exchange (HIE) platform, that will securely connect all public and private healthcare providers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to create unified patient records to improve healthcare quality and patient outcomes.

The Malaffi onboarding process consists of several stages which healthcare providers must undertake before they can begin to utilise the platform. To facilitate the process, Malaffi’s team is continually working closely with the providers to support them in their efforts to start utilising Malaffi by December 2019, as designated in the recently published Malaffi launch schedule.

The Malaffi database already contains up to five years of patient demographic and clinical data, for 2,3 million unique patients. This information is backloaded to the platform from the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) of the four healthcare providers, whom were among the first six to sign the Participant Agreement and will provide instant value to the providers as they start using Malaffi. As more clinicians start utilising the platform and exchanging information, the amount of patient data securely and safely stored in Malaffi will increasingly continue to grow and be available for clinicians to use to advance the health of their patients.

Mohamed Al Hameli, Undersecretary of Department of Health, commented: “With the ‘Malaffi’ health information exchange platform centralising data from all health facilities in the emirate, we will soon be living a future that reflects our ambitions in the healthcare sector, especially that four major healthcare providers have successfully started utilising the platform, enabling their physicians to make sound decisions based on transparent and complete patient records. This will ensure the continuous delivery of exceptional healthcare services to locals and residents.”

“We are extremely proud of having achieved so much since we launched Malaffi in January this year. The fact that we now have a live connection with four major healthcare providers, whose clinicians have successfully begun utilising the platform, is a very important milestone. Remarkable efforts have been made by the providers in order to achieve this milestone, that will transform the way healthcare is delivered to patients within the Emirate,” said Atif Al Braiki, the Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Health Data Services, the operator of Malaffi.

“Our recognition goes to the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, and its honourable representatives, H.E. Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohamed Al Hamed, Chairman of the DOH, and H.E. Mohamed Al Hameli, Undersecretary of the DOH, for their efforts to create world-class healthcare services in line with international standards. Malaffi is an innovative health information exchange portal that the DOH has launched as a service to the health sector, which will enable clinicians to have convenient and timely access to patient health records. This platform will have a significant positive impact on providing quality health care, based on accurate data and documented medical records,” stated Dr. Gareth Goodier, Group CEO of SEHA.

“Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is proud to support this innovative new platform that represents an important step forward in patient care for Abu Dhabi. Ensuring providers have a more complete view of a patient’s health, no matter where they have been treated previously, will uplift the level of care offered across the Emirate, allowing physicians to better tailor treatments to patients’ individual needs,” said Dr. Rakesh Suri, Chief Executive Officer of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Mr. Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, CEO of United Eastern Medical Services, said “We are indeed proud to support Malaffi launch in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and that Danat Al Emarat Hospital is one of the first hospitals to implement Malaffi platform. The preparation for this milestone was smooth and the communication between our clinicians and Malaffi and DOH has been streamlined. At the end, we all join hands for the benefit of our patients and the population of Abu Dhabi sharing the same vision of uplifting the healthcare delivery system in the Emirate. In addition, we are getting UEMedical’s other facilities including HealthPlus Network of Specialty Centers ready for the implementation soon, being the first outpatient network to implement Malaffi. I believe the launch of Malaffi will not only serve to the best of our population but also the overall healthcare system.”

“We at Oasis Hospital feel very privileged to be part of this visionary Abu Dhabi Government initiative. The launch of Malaffi under the inspiring leadership of the Department of Health in partnership with Injazat is a remarkable achievement. We are excited about the numerous benefits this brings to our patients and the Abu Dhabi healthcare sector, such as integrated care, improved resource utilisation, and cost-reduction. Malaffi will be particularly useful to Oasis Hospital as we continue to grow as a high-risk maternity referral hospital. We are confident that the Department of Health-led project has paved the way for all other healthcare organisations to now join Malaffi,” noted Alex Jankuloski, Chief Executive Officer of Oasis Hospital.

For further reference, providers may consult the DOH Policy on ADHIE and contact the Malaffi Onboarding Team at onboarding@malaffi.ae