Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, today urged the medical community to invest in prevention in a keynote speech at Leaders in Healthcare, the flagship gathering at the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress.

The focus of this year’s Leaders in Healthcare was sustainable and green healthcare that would not only be environmentally friendly and cost-effective but also contribute to the overall quality of patient care and a higher quality of life for all people.

“If we want to see sustainable development in the health sector, we as members of the medical community must also be personally involved and take responsibility for the choices we make,” said Princess Haya. “Unless we have long-term vision, unless we invest in prevention, we will soon be overwhelmed by the level of diabetes, heart disease and other non-communicable diseases.”

Princess Haya emphasized the importance of adopting green standards for construction and energy use, essentially how we build, to be environmentally sustainable and promote the healing process itself. She highlighted that hospitals are one of the largest consumers of energy in the world today.

“They use twice as much energy per square foot as office buildings and generate millions and millions of tons of waste per year,” She said. “If the earth's ecosystem is to continue to support us, we need to preserve public health and provide health care in ways that will sustain our environment.” Topics of discussion throughout the day revolved around principles of sustainable healthcare, preventive approaches to healthcare, operational efficiency and increased profitability as well as the meaning of ‘going green’ and why it’s good for business.

Among other high-level speakers who took part in Leaders in Healthcare were: Brian De Francesca, Executive Vice President, TBS Group and Senior Partner, Capitol Health, USA; Heinrich Von Wulfen, CEO, EMEA and CRM, Siemens Healthcare Sector, Erlangen, Germany; G. Steven Burrill, Chief Executive, Burrill & Co., USA; Dr. Walid Fitahi, CEO, International Medical Centre, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Professor Elias Mossialos, Centre Director, London School of Economics Health, UK; Dr Mark Parrish, Director of Health Solutions Group Asia Pacific and Middle East, Microsoft, Australia.

In addition to speaking at Leaders in Healthcare, Princess Haya also toured the Arab Health exhibition stands, including those belonging to the Ministry of Health, the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, and various others. Accompanying Her on the tour was HE Dr. Hanif Hassan, Minister of Health and HE Qadhi Al Murooshid, Director General, Dubai Health Authority and other dignitaries.

IIR Middle East, the organizers of Arab Health, and GTech, in an initiative supported by Princess Haya, arranged the collection and shipment of unused medical supplies and equipment from 2700 exhibitors donated from their stands to the Haitians left devastated after January 12th’s earthquake.

The Arab Health Exhibition and Congress closed today at the Dubai World Trade Centre, featured more than 2700 exhibiting companies from 70 countries. Attended by in excess of 50,000 visitors it was the largest gathering ever of healthcare professionals in the Middle East.