His Excellency Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qatami inaugurates the world's largest laboratory exhibition and congress, MEDLAB

His Excellency Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director General of the Dubai Health Authority, inaugurates the world’s largest laboratory exhibition and congress, MEDLAB

MEDLAB Exhibition & Congress kicks off for the first time as a standalone event to Arab Health, bringing together the most advanced laboratory and clinical innovations and breakthroughs to improve patient care outcomes in the Middle East

Dubai, UAE - 6 February 2017:  The first standalone edition of MEDLAB Exhibition & Congress, the world’s largest laboratory event, was officially inaugurated today by His Excellency Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board and Director General of the Dubai Health Authority. Following 15 years of success alongside the region’s flagship healthcare event, Arab Health, the laboratory show is now a standalone event and runs from 6th - 9th February 2017 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

Spanning over six exhibition halls, the show accommodates more than 700 international exhibitors, over 400 ground breaking medical laboratory products and services, 11 CME-accredited conferences and welcomes over 30,000 laboratory and trade professionals.

With MEDLAB looking at bridging the gap between the laboratory and clinical settings, the congress today focused on two key topics - laboratory management and cardiac markers (measurement of heart functions), with healthcare leaders addressing topics varying from the risks of the use of social media in healthcare, to how to improve cardiac testing. 

Today also saw the start of the 5th Middle East Diabetes Conference, led by Dr Nader Lessan, Consultant Endocrinologist, Imperial College London, Diabetes Centre, who gave regional insights into diabetes care.  The conference, which is normally held at Arab Health, is now part of MEDLAB to improve the relationship between the laboratory and clinicians when diagnosing and treating diabetes. 

During the four-day congress, MEDLAB will unveil the industry’s latest updates on laboratory testing and developments in clinical diagnostics. Within its new scientific programme, comprising 11 multi-disciplinary conferences, the congress will introduce five new tracks including blood transfusion medicine, laboratory informatics, and clinical diagnostics of cardiology and diabetes, in addition to the more established laboratory management, microbiology, immunology and clinical chemistry tracks. 

Offering delegates the chance to earn up to 28.0 credits of Continuing Medical Education (CME), the conferences are spearheaded by regional and global industry leaders, who will present the latest research, innovations, and drive discussions on best practice in laboratory medicine.

Simon Page, Managing Director of Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, the organisers of MEDLAB, explained how important the show is in bringing healthcare professionals together to improve the provision of healthcare in the region. 

“MEDLAB provides access to hundreds of laboratory innovations and insights into medical breakthroughs that will help improve healthcare, both in the Middle East and globally. The congress has been designed to foster collaboration and encourage the sharing of knowledge and skills between two pillars of healthcare – the laboratory and clinicians - to ultimately improve patient care outcomes, particularly in this part of the world,” he said.