Qatar exports technology for UK's NHS

Qatar has signed an agreement to export technologies to the UK that will help enhance the National Health Service (NHS).

Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) has inked the deal with Harmoni and Corinium Technologies Limited, two companies that will deploy the technology in the UK on behalf of the NHS.

RASAD, the first 'Made in Qatar' technology exported abroad, allows for large-scale real time remote monitoring of patients and will support the NHS in providing preventive medicine and better treatment and follow up of patients through the use of telehealth technologies, a statement said.

Dr Tidu Maini, QSTP's executive chairman and science and technology advisor, said: "RASAD is an essential tele-health tool to monitor patients who suffer from a variety of long term conditions, and we are proud to be bringing this technology to the UK.

"RASAD is a direct realisation of Qatar's National Vision to develop innovative technologies in Qatar that not only benefit the country, but can also be shared with the world."

In Qatar, the RASAD platform is currently in operation at Al Ahli Hospital, where subjects are being monitored for cardiovascular and lifestyle studies respectively.

Under the agreement Harmoni - the leading independent provider of out of hours healthcare in the UK - will use RASAD to remotely monitor patients with conditions that require regular medical observation, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (non-asthma related), heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

Andrew Gardner, CEO of Harmoni, said: "Our use of RASAD will result in considerable financial savings to the NHS, but of equal importance will improve the quality of lives of millions of people in the community."

The deployment of RASAD in the UK will be staged, beginning with the activation of a few thousand connections, and followed by a roll out of hundreds of thousands of remote monitoring sessions.

RASAD has already been adopted for healthcare purposes in Italy. Rome City Council is currently using the telehealth tool to assist in studying health patterns in Rome with an eye towards developing better monitoring and prevention methods.

Since its international debut, a number of customers in healthcare markets across the world have also expressed their interest in the Qatari technology platform.