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VIVA Bahrain signed two agreements at GITEX Technology Week at the Dubai World Trade Centre this week focusing on innovative solutions for the health sector in the kingdom.
The partnership with the Ministry of Health and King Hamad University Hospital, which comes as part of VIVA’s enterprise business, aims to develop an integrated and efficient system in which all medical information and patient history will be made available for doctors and pharmacists in the future.
Nezar Banabeela, VIVA Bahrain’s chief wholesale and enterprise officer, said: “We are trying to focus on some of the industries such as medical, education and financial that we believe will have a lot of potential in the near future and will give the end-customer real value.
“In this case, this agreement is something that is tailored specifically for the health sector and its patients. We are trying to come up with a unified system where each patient will have a number similar to a CPR number that will include his or her entire medical history.
“That way when a patient visits a doctor, the medical expert will just type in the number and know everything there is about the patient from past surgeries to what medicine he or she may require. All it will take is one click.”
Back-up facilities and extensive connectivity will be put in place. VIVA has completed the first phase of fibre optics in many areas in Bahrain and now will continue with phases two and three of its growth project.
Mr Banabeela added: “We will have more than 150 locations in Bahrain connected through our own fibre and we are the first telecom provider to do this here.
“If you go to the UK, you will see that this system has already been deployed. That’s why we have BT (formerly known as British Telecom) working with us. We want to make sure that whatever we are getting in play is innovative and working well without any problems especially for something as sensitive as this.
“We even have some doctors working under BT to make sure that we are speaking the same language.”
VIVA Bahrain, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC), also showcased its products and services at the ‘DNA is Our Success’ themed STC Group stand, which was one of the largest in GITEX.
Andrew Hanna, VIVA’s chief commercial officer, said: “GITEX is a great platform for us regionally. It is very important for us to support the group as an entirety and to furthermore showcase our capabilities. It’s also a great platform for networking and to see what is new in the industry.
“I think innovation is something we have managed very successfully to put into the organisation from the start. It’s really about the DNA of the company and continuously looking forward to opportunities. It’s not just a matter of getting new customers for us. It’s about servicing our existing customers better and better.”
The STC Group’s arena is located in Zabeel Hall and GITEX 2013 will continue until tomorrow.
