At the pace of current developments, AI is transforming the future of business at an unprecedented scale. And that includes the future of healthcare.
The future of healthcare has never been more exciting, with Artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics capturing center stage.
“I’m actually very happy that the emergence and the maturity of AI has kind of made data management popular and fashionable again, as the data that we start with is the most important thing for AI,” said Gavin Day, Chief Operating Officer, SAS.
Advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI present an enormous opportunity, such as for the healthcare industry in the UAE. Convenience and easy accessibility are key to meeting patient expectations.
The UAE established Emirates Health Services (EHS) as the federal government authority that manages the health and wellness of a large UAE population. With the charter to enhance the efficiency of the federal health sector, the organization provides healthcare and treatment services, takes preventive measures, combats epidemics and diseases, and achieves sustainable development for healthcare.
EHS, as the governmental healthcare entity, receives more than 2.5 million patient visits every year. This also means that the organization generates a huge amount of valuable data that can be converted into insights for healthcare decision making.
However, the growing amount and increasingly varied sources of data that are generated makes this digital transformation a daunting process that requires a great amount of technology management and planning.
Analytics and AI for healthcare
By using data-driven insights, healthcare professionals have the time to focus on a holistic approach for their patients – and most importantly, deliver quality care.
EHS has been partnering with SAS for several years now, developing a unique analytics solution to improve the efficiency and quality of national health services in the UAE.
Dr Mubaraka Ibrahim
EHS’s Chief AI Officer
Recently at SAS Innovate 2025 in Orlando, Florida, EHS’s Chief AI Officer Dr Mubaraka Ibrahim shared onstage how UAE’s national health organization leveraged SAS Viya, SAS Data Management and SAS Visual Investigator for its healthcare solution.
In 2023, EHS launched two first-of-its-kind projects in the Middle East region: Care AI and Digital Twin. These solutions, closely aligned with the UAE Centennial Plan 2071 – which focuses on increasing the quality of life of all citizens through better healthcare services – aims to support decision makers in the UAE.
healthcare industry through smart analytics leveraging the large data of current and potential patients.
According to Dr Mubaraka, Care AI consists of a basic system for a smart healthcare facility, supported by artificial intelligence for self-monitoring, tracking patient behaviour and movement, and assisting doctors in diagnosing patients using computer vision, in addition to automatically updating and analyzing patient data.
She said: “Care AI also allows for using AI technology based on the patients’ condition to continuously improve care based on collected information. The project independently evaluates and tracks the extent of compliance with approved health and safety protocols across EHS’ affiliated facilities, in order to collect immediate information about the extent to which safety protocols are implemented, as well as to analyze and evaluate the patient’s condition, and monitor procedures followed while providing healthcare to patients.”
