The 45th IHF World Hospital Congress Concludes in Dubai Today

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 11 November 2022: Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, the 45th World Hospital Congress which ran under the theme “Global Learnings, Local Actions: Sustainable Healthcare” concluded its activities today.

The renowned event, which Dubai won the bid to host for the 2nd time, discussed pertinent topics such as sustainability in the health sector, healthcare leadership, learnings from COVID-19 and technology in healthcare.

More than a 1,000 participants from 60 countries attended the congress and 400 entries from 35 countries were submitted in this year's edition of the conference. 

The congress selected six Excellence Award winners based on five areas of expertise: originality and innovation; intended impact; adaptability and scalability; scientific rigor; and clarity, in addition to the five dimensions of healthcare delivery (health service quality, patient experience, clinical outcomes and health equity, cost efficiency, and workforce wellbeing), as well as ability to sustain their success, and clarity.

One of the major awards was Dr Kwang Tae Kim Grand Hospital Award which recognizes hospitals that excelled in the five dimensions of healthcare delivery. The winners were announced in 3 categories: Gold winners: Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (UAE), and Severance Hospital (Republic of Korea), Silver winners: Tan Tock Seng Hospital (Singapore) and Bronze winners: Al Qassimi Hospital (UAE), and King Faisal Medical Complex, Taif (KSA). Another award was the Ashikaga-Nikken Excellence Award for Green Hospitals which honoured hospitals and healthcare organizations that promote sustainable and eco-friendly initiatives, in gold rank was Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (UAE), and Japanese Red Cross Matsuyama Hospital (Japan) while Aga Khan Health Service (Pakistan) was named as the silver winner and Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital (Taiwan) as the bronze awardees.

His Excellency Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority thanked His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council for his patronage and support, he also thanked IHF and all the international and local health organizations for their support and reiterated the important of global cooperation in the health sector with an aim of improving the lives of people and ensuring patients receive the highest quality of internationally-recognized accessible and specialized care. 

Deborah Bowen, IHF President and CEO and President of the American College of Healthcare Executives said: “It has been my pleasure to be with you at this 45th World Hospital Congress here in Dubai. The incredible line-up of learning we’ve enjoyed has given us new perspectives we can carry with us into our everyday work. The depth of collective expertise on display at this forum has been truly remarkable. Not only can that expertise guide us as we work to address the challenges we face today, it can help us do so tomorrow as well. We arrived here as individuals, but we leave here with the expertise of a community to help us attain our shared goal … to provide safe and equitable care to all.”

Dr. Ramadan Al Blooshi, chairman of the organising committee of the conference thanked the scientific committee for creating a well-balanced/ high-quality scientific programme for the congress. 

Several key topics were discussed at the congress and experts in sustainability discussed climate change and in the impact of global health. 
Experts emphasized that the healthcare industry must lead the way with sustainable efforts in line with the healthcare fraternity’s mission to heal. 
They discussed ways in which the healthcare industry can lead the way to be a sustainable, low-carbon and resilient industry by reducing their own emissions and by serving as models for sustainability. They discussed ways to make healthcare systems climate resilient. 

H.E. Amb. Dr Abdul Salam Al Madani, Roving Ambassador for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean for the GCC, Chairman of INDEX Holding and IHF Special Adviser to the Middle East Region stated: “This year’s edition is a testament of our keenness to provide a valuable opportunity to share experiences and knowledge among those interested in the sector. During the course of three days, the conference provided participants and attendees from all over the world a chance to connect and build bridges of cooperation in addition to exchanging information and experiences, as we all share one goal in the end, which is to provide high-quality health care to patients and create a safe environment for the establishment of medical care services.”

The projects and programs presented in the 6 different awards also highlighted innovation in hospitals around the world and provided examples of good practices that improve the quality, quality and sustainability of healthcare services.