RAS AL KHAIMAH // Delays in patient treatment at RAK Hospital have been blamed on a new “smart” system designed to increase efficiency at the private clinic.
A switch in online systems for medical records and diagnostics created chaos on some days, with patients claiming to be left waiting for hours longer than usual at the Al Qusaidat facility.
The database transition went live on March 1, and the hospital has reassured patients operations would be running smoothly again as quickly as possible.
One patient said he arrived for an appointment on the first day after the hospital had switched to the new computer system, and faced confusion among staff.
“There were clearly a lot of patients waiting around and, when I got to see the doctor, he said it had been chaos,” he said.
“The doctor was unable to access my patient records and was unable to write a prescription on-screen.
“When the nurse took my weight, height and blood pressure, there was an IT guy in the room and a posse of nurses crowded around the computer with him because they all needed to see how the new system worked.”
Another patient said the changes placed extra strain on staff.
“The nurses said they had not been trained [on the new system] and they were clearly stressed with the situation and increasingly irate patients who had been waiting for a long time,” he said.
“For something that should have taken me less than an hour, I was there for two hours without even getting everything completed. I’ve heard of others who have been held up for more than three hours with small children.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard that, a week on from the computer system switch, the same problems were occurring, with patients waiting hours.”
Established in 2007, RAK Hospital is a flagship brand of Arabian Healthcare, a joint venture company between the government of Ras Al Khaimah and ETA Star Healthcare of Dubai.
The hospital is managed by Sonnenhof Swiss Health, a Switzerland-based healthcare company.
Dr Raza Siddiqui, executive director of RAK Hospital, said the changes were intended to bring “increased efficiency” and “higher throughput”.
“The new smart system is aimed at providing superior delivery and automation in health care, which will eventually benefit the patients,” he said.
“Complete transition of a system takes some time and, as such, may have inadvertently caused slight inconvenience to our patients initially.
“We have, however, been trying to keep the teething issues to a bare minimum during the transition phase, and at no point in time has treatment been delayed or records not been accessible.
“For this reason, we are working on two parallel systems and as we systematically shift our database to the new system, the issues faced by our patients will automatically iron out as well.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
