Outlining the usage of AI in treatment, Sidra Medicine’s CEO said that it would play a key role in providing “preliminary results to very complex cases much earlier on.”
Sidra Medicine has undergone significant transformations over the past couple of years, further cementing its position as a local and regional hub for research and advanced medical treatment.
Dr. Iyabo Tinubu-Karch, the CEO of Sidra Medicine, spoke to Doha News on Thursday about her journey since joining the Qatari organisation in 2022.
“Sidra Medicine has developed significantly over the past two years. We really focused on where our gaps were as an organisation. We really focused on access to care and providing the best care to the patients,” she said.
Dr. Tinubu-Karch, who also holds high-profile memberships in leading health colleges, came to the Qatari entity with extensive experience in general internal medicine while being certified in health information technology.
She was able to bring her expertise in the usage of technology in health by employing the latest technological advancements in the patients’ treatment journey, namely Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“We’re making our services more efficient by using AI-driven care. From a technological perspective, we are enhancing the way we address the needs of our patients through building more AI-driven portals,” she explained, adding that the organisation is using “high performance computing” to analyse data.
Outlining the usage of AI in treatment, Sidra Medicine’s CEO said that it would play a key role in providing “preliminary results to very complex cases much earlier on.”
As it keeps pace with technological advancements and offers developed treatment, especially for some of the rarest cases globally, the health facility became a key medical hub.
This was highlighted in June when four-year-old Chris El Kik, who suffered from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, received life-saving treatment at Sidra Medicine. The process to get the costly treatment took five months under a joint effort between the Qatari and Lebanese authorities.
Since last year, the Qatari entity has taken on another challenge in treating the critical injuries of at least 170 Palestinian children that made it out of the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s war has persisted for nearly 11 months.
Dr. Tinubu-Karch also spoke to Doha News about the Palestinians’ treatment journey following their evacuation under an initiative by Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
“It’s been a great learning experience for us as an organisation. We have witnessed more than 170 children who have come from that region with devastating injuries, brain injuries, amputations, internal injuries and shrapnel,” she explained.
The Qatari initiative aimed at sponsoring 3,000 orphans and treating 1,500 injured Palestinians from the Strip.
Qatar has since evacuated more than 500 wounded people, along with over 800 of their companions and 700 others with special cases. The evacuations took place before Israel invaded and destroyed the Gaza-Egypt Rafah Crossing on May 6.
Aside from treating physical injuries, Sidra Medicine’s team also dedicated their time in paying special attention to the psychological aspect of their treatment in response to the horrors they witnessed in their homeland throughout the genocidal war.
“I can’t emphasise the psychological impact on these children. Luckily for us, we’ve been able to muster our robust group of mental health professionals who have intervened with these patients,” she said
