Al Barza Health Innovation Discussion highlights UAE's most creative medical minds

The Al Barza Health Innovation Discussion in Dubai brought together some of the United Arab Emirate's most innovative minds, high-level officials and members of the public to discuss creative ways to make life better for UAE citizens.

The discussion took place over a week at the Health Innovation Village at Kite Beach in Dubai. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) organized the week of events to celebrate UAE Innovation Week, which ended Saturday.

DHA Chairman of the Board and Director-General Humaid Al Qatami said innovation in the medical field can have direct impacts on the lives of patients and their families. Among the many innovations he highlighted were telemedicine services and robotics under development.

DHA CEO of Primary Healthcare Sector Manal Taryam said introducing telemedicine for patients with diabetic retinopathy at primary health centers has shown major positive impacts. Diabetic patients no longer need to see an opthalmologist for annual eye exams, Taryam said.

Other innovations being used by DHA include a robotic teddy bear designed by Reem Al Marzouqi, a 25-year-old Emirati engineer. She envisioned the toy to be both comforting and a learning robot for autistic children.

The Al Barza Health Innovation Discussion focused on one main factor that led to those systems: curiosity. Taryam and other discussion panelists said that curiosity is the first and biggest step on a path to creating new innovations to improve the health and lives of Emiratis.