MEDICAL cities in the GCC both address and cater to a demand in the healthcare industry. Originally, the emergence of large medical city projects in the GCC intended to serve as major quantitative and qualitative leaps forward, and is an example of governments wanting to leapfrog both in quantity and quality of care provided. However, experts now caution against this ‘one size fits all' approach to medical cities in the GCC. Current well-known operational medical cities in the GCC include Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in the UAE; King Fahad Medical City in Saudi Arabia; and the Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. According to Sean Huang from KMD Architects in Dubai, “the approach of defining the next generation of facilities in this region needs to be developed from the patient perspective. This needs to be more decentralized allowing for more innovative healthcare facilities that are scaled to allow flexibility within a healthcare system for a more evolutionary approach, as opposed to a large single entity that tries to be all things at once.” Huang was a keynote speaker at the Building Healthcare Exhibition & Conferences that concluded today at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The exhibition showcased some of the region's remarkable medical projects and healthcare cities, and provided insight in to their operation, design and infrastructure. The challenges that face medical cities in the GCC revolve around an increase in patient awareness and preference for more personalized, specialty care. “We are not suggesting that medical cities will go away, but rather they will need more time to reach their true potential as centers of excellence built on organic growth of local leaders - in research, education and regional expertise. Our proposition is that there is a need for a greater emphasis on smaller, more specialized hospitals and outpatient care platforms that are more integrated into the community. This evolution has precedence in all developed countries in Western Europe, North American and Asia,” Huang noted. Building Healthcare Middle East Exhibition & Conferences, organized by Informa life Sciences Exhibitions, is the regional hub for healthcare facility planning, design, construction and maintenance. The exhibition hosted to more than 150 exhibitors and 6,500 attendees from 70 countries. The event also featured 12 free-to-attend conferences with more than 100 local, regional and global speakers. The event took place on June 8-10 June 2015 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre. — SG
