News2018-10-16

Al Jalila Children’s and Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai enter second phase of clinical collaborations

Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (Moorfields Dubai) the first overseas branch of the world renowned 200-year-old Moorfields (London eye hospital) and Al Jalila Children’s Speciality Hospital in Dubai, the first and only children’s hospital in UAE, today announced the start of the second phase of their clinical collaboration. The move follows a successful two-year partnership, which began when Al Jalila Children’s opened in 2016.

Moorfields Dubai will now focus its clinical efforts within Al Jalila Children’s on offering complex paediatric ophthalmology surgeries for babies, providing patients with the best specialist eye treatment globally available by Moorfields Dubai, while ensuring that Al Jalila Children’s progresses with its vision to be ranked among the top ten-paediatric hospitals in the world.

The two hospitals will continue the joint referral process for young patients with Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai Paediatric Ophthalmology Consultants continuing to provide complex surgeries for children in need of multidisciplinary care and joint referrals at Al Jalila Children’s location, specifically for children under the age of one years old, while all other paediatric ophthalmology services including outpatient care and all other surgeries for children over the age of one will move back to the base of Moorfields Dubai, the first overseas London branch of Moorfields, located in Dubai Health Care City, Al Razi Building 64.

Dr. Abdulla Al Khayat, CEO of Al Jalila Children’s, said: “Moorfields Eye Hospital is renowned globally as the world’s leading eye specialist and over the last two years Moorfields Dubai has been instrumental in the successful launch of Al Jalila Children’s. We are now ready to begin phase two of our agreement, with Moorfields Dubai focusing on providing children’s eye care and complex surgeries ensuring that we continue to offer our patients the highest quality care.”

“As the only children’s hospital in the UAE, it is our mandate to provide young people in this region with access to healthcare with the best standards globally. We will continue to explore partnerships that will enhance the quality of paediatric healthcare and service the needs of patients,” he added.

The Chief Executive of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, David Probert added: “We are very proud to work with Al Jalila Children’s, and we congratulate the hospital team on its successful launch. This collaboration between Moorfields Dubai and AJCH has been an excellent experience for both hospitals, and we are delighted to see this continue to evolve to serve the young patients and families of the UAE. This new phase of our collaboration will allow us to focus more specifically on the most complex ophthalmic conditions, which is the unique capability of Moorfields Dubai, as well as continuing to support Al Jalila Children’s. With each hospital now focusing more directly on its main strengths and with a strong working partnership in place, we believe the new collaboration will enhance the provision of world-class eye care to young patients in the UAE and wider Middle East region.”

The state of the art Al Jalila Children’s Specialty Hospital was the first in the UAE to specialise exclusively in the treatment of children, defining a new standard for healthcare excellence on a local, regional and international level, fostering clinical innovations, ground-breaking technologies and cutting-edge research.

In 2017, Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai celebrated its 10th anniversary of community care, treating patients with complex eye conditions, educating and training eye care professionals (ECPs) and supporting Dubai’s healthcare tourism goals. The hospital has expanded from its original base in DHCC to open Moorfields Eye Hospital Centre in Abu Dhabi, and the clinical service agreement with Al Jalila Children’s. Since 2007, Moorfields has treated more than 160,000 patients of more than 200 nationalities, many of them highly complex cases requiring the consultant-led care in which Moorfields specialises. The award-winning hospital team comprises more than 70 staff.

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