In our fifth special healthcare edition, which focuses on issues relating to the healthcare and life sciences sectors, we see continued growth and development across the MENA region. According to the latest statistics, the healthcare market is expected to reach US $104.6 billion in 2022, and that is just the figure for the six Middle Eastern countries making up the Gulf Cooperation Council (‘GCC’).

Our Healthcare Practice Group at Al Tamimi & Company supports the entire range of healthcare and life sciences sectors’ legal and regulatory services. In this edition, Andrea Tithecott, our lead Partner for the Healthcare Practice Group walks us through some of the key developments from around the region, followed by more in-depth articles from our regional experts on specific country developments.

We also look at the new medical liability law in Jordan, its prohibitions and how medical negligence is determined. Of particular interest is the mandatory medical malpractice insurance requirement.

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we look at healthcare’s digital transformation and the current opportunities to roll out telemedicine services, which for some time now has been an area of uncertainty for both traditional facility-based physicians and international telemedicine providers.

Also in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we examine the use of health information exchanges, and the data and technology behind them.
Our Bahrain office dissects the new universal healthcare insurance law and its implications.

In analysing the new Oman regulation on the transplantation of human organs and tissues, we see that there is alignment between GCC-wide organ donation laws and the new Omani regulation further contributes to clarifying the regions codified laws and Sharia principles concerning end-of-life care.

Our Kuwait office prepared a helpful guidance note for foreign principals seeking to distribute pharmaceutical products in Kuwait. This guidance note explains the requirement that a local agent is ‘exclusive’, and what this means in practice for foreign pharmaceutical companies.

Our Egypt office shares expertise on raising capital for healthcare providers on the back of a recent transaction.

For the UAE we have broadened the focus of this edition to cover a number of recent developments that are noteworthy of mentioning, wherein we examine:

• a recent medical malpractice case where a Dubai medical practitioner was accused of criminal liability but the Dubai court held that only ‘gross’ negligence should result in criminal liability;
• technology trends in the UAE healthcare sector, with a focus on privacy regulations;
• the remarkable opportunities in using drone technology to produce healthcare benefits;
• employment arrangements for healthcare practitioners;
• recent updated to Abu Dhabi Department of Health general clinic license;
• an overview of the new Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Health Professionals.

Finally, Al Tamimi will again be attending and supporting the Arab Health Conference held in Dubai in January 2018. We are planning a number of activities during the week and would be delighted to connect with all our clients and friends to make this year’s conference another successful event.