The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American Heart Association in order to enhance access to distinguished healthcare services for heart attack and stroke patients across the emirate.
The American Heart Association is the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health for communities around the world.
This partnership intends to implement common treatment platforms to ensure patients are rapidly transported to and treated at the appropriate hospital. The two parties will cooperate to integrate the Association’s standards for chest pain and stroke centers to extend guideline-directed care for patients across their healthcare journey.
The collaboration will focus on six components: stakeholder coordination, education, public awareness, sustainability, rehabilitation task force, and evaluations. These components will be delivered through a certification program that will build on existing infrastructure, including the expertise of the Abu Dhabi Stroke and STEMI Task Forces and the Association, with its regional and international expert resources.
Additionally, stroke and cardiac certifications will assist hospitals in improving patient care, differentiating themselves from competitors, and attracting top talent.
The agreement will see both entities developing and implementing an awareness campaign on stroke and heart attack symptoms and the importance of calling emergency services. This collaboration aims to establish improvements and systems that can be sustained by DoH and its stakeholders, leveraging the Association’s certification and quality improvement programs as resources for all participating hospitals and EMS agencies.
Dr. Saleh Al Ali, Executive Director of the Centre of Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) at DoH, said that, “The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH) is committed to collaborating with global strategic partners and unifying efforts to further advance and accelerate access to quality care for patients in Abu Dhabi and around the world.”
“Through this collaboration, we look forward to achieving excellence with the American Heart Association to advance our stroke and cardiology ventures, strengthen the Emirate’s system of care for heart disease and stroke patients, and safeguard the health and well-being of the community,” Dr. Al Ali added.
