A first for Qatar at world’s largest medical conference and exhibition

November, 2012

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, in partnership with three leading players from Qatar’s medical science and healthcare industry, participated in the world’s largest medical conference, exhibition and trade fair - MEDICA 2012 – for the first time.

The event is held each year in Dusseldorf in Germany and allows institutions and companies the chance to present their services and products to a global market. It also offers unparalleled networking opportunities among healthcare professionals.

WCMC-Q, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Aspetar – Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, and the Anti-Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ) represented Qatar at MEDICA 2012 for the four-day duration of the event, from November 13 to 17.

Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCMC-Q, said the event offered the chance to present the college to the wider medical community.

Dr. Sheikh said: “MEDICA 2012 allowed the college to promote itself further on the world stage, not just among healthcare practitioners but also other professionals who work in the same sphere.

“The college always wants to recruit the very best faculty and staff members and events like this offer another window of opportunity – both for potential employees and ourselves.”

Approximately 4,500 exhibitors were at MEDICA representing about 60 countries. These exhibitors, including WCMC-Q and its partners, were seen by around 130,000 visitors from more than 100 countries, providing unprecedented exposure.

As it was the first time Qatar had been represented at the event, there was huge interest from people interested to discover what the country is doing in terms of medical research, education and clinical care.

Dr. Joachim Dudenhausen, Medical Advisor and Head of Medical Staff Services at Sidra Medical and Research Center, and a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, said the MEDICA conference allowed Sidra and its partners to highlight the tremendous work being done to advance health care in Qatar.

He added: “Sidra’s mission is to set new standards in health care for women and children regionally and globally through clinical care, research, and medical education. One important way we will achieve this is through our state-of-the-art, all-digital facility, where sophisticated laboratories and cutting-edge medical equipment will enable true innovation and clinical advancement.”

Dr. Mohammed Alsayrafi, General Manager of ADLQ, said that the organization’s status as the first anti-doping laboratory in the Middle East and western Asia, makes its participation in MEDICA “priceless”.

He added: “Why are we at MEDICA? Simply to ‘introduce and induce’: introduce ADLQ to the market and to our prospective partners for possible future collaborations, and to induce all possible development opportunities of our research projects. Anti-doping, biomedical and translational research in particular is a major focus for ADLQ as we aim at being not merely an anti-doping lab but also a small research center.

“As our services expanded to include toxicology and multi-purpose labs, it was only natural that it led to having a Research Division that serves our vision and Qatar’s vision of 2030 which focuses on training Qatari human resources. Having the human resources, the technology and the expertise we have seen clearly that we need to pay back the community that has given us so much by investing more in this area through providing academic training programs of MSc and PhD studies to promising young Qataris in conjunction with reputable universities around the world in order to enrich the local manpower.

“For us, MEDICA is the event in the medical sector and it is inevitable that we are part of this huge gathering of expertise in the field, and doing this while representing Qatar through Qatar Pavilion is of ultimate importance. We are very proud indeed.”

The event is arranged according to halls, including ones assigned for electromedical equipment/medical technology, laboratory technology/diagnostics, medical furniture, and information and communications technology among many others.

Ibrahim Al Darwish, Chief Operating Officer of Aspetar, said MEDICA 2012 is giving the organization a global platform. He said: “Our objective is to showcase who we are, our expertise and what we have to offer to the international community.

“The MEDICA trade fair is an important venue and partner that allows us to deliver our message and to learn from others. Our participation is an opportunity to understand what similar and very different organizations are doing in healthcare, and to understand supply and equipment options and the latest technologies that will support our drive to be a leader in sports medicine by 2015."

Given that it is the first time institutions in Qatar has occupied a pavilion at MEDICA, there was significant interest from visitors in learning what the country and the organizations represented have to offer.