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ISSUE 01 / 2017

Dear Sir or Madam,

Hamburg is always worth a visit, as most people whocome to our beautiful city would whole-heartedly agree– whether they choose to visit in May to experience thePort Anniversary Festival, in summer for the CruiseDays or in December to enjoy Hamburg’s numerousChristmas markets.

In January Hamburg will be coming to Dubai, however!For more than 15 years, North German exhibitors havebeen taking part in the Arab Health. Hosting more than4,400 exhibitors from over 70 countries, this healthcareexhibition is the largest in the region and the second-largest in the world. Nearly 60 North German compa-

nies will be participating in 2017, showcasing their expertise in state-of-the-art me-dical technologies and excellent healthcare services. For many of them, the Health-care Industry Service Centre (founded by the Hamburg Representative Office UAEin 2012) is the first point of contact when it comes to obtaining market information,finding business contacts and making informed decisions about future engagementin the region’s thriving markets. Taking place just before the exhibition begins, theannual North German Evening is the ideal opportunity to meet North German busi-ness at its best.

So this month I look forward to meeting you in Hamburg or in Dubai – both of whichare always worth a visit.

Warmest regards,Kirsten Staab

Director, Hamburg Representative Office UAEHealthcare Industry Service Centre

Interview with Dr. med. Helene Renz

Dr. med. Helene Renz is a medical advisor at the Alber-tinen International Patient Service department (AIPS) ofAlbertinen-Krankenhaus Hamburg, where for many ye-ars she has been advising international patients inte-rested in coming to Germany for medical treatment. Sheattends the Arab Health in Dubai and events in Russiaeach year, where she is on hand to answer questions atthe North German booth.Read more ›

NEWS

Hamburg at the Arab Health 2017

This year will already be the third time thatthe Hamburg Tourist Board, in cooperationwith the Hamburg Chamber of Commerceand the city’s Ministry of Health and Consu-mer Protection, is organizing representationof Hamburg’s hospitals at the Arab Health2017. Together they will be showcasing thewide range of outstanding medical serviceson offer in Hamburg, and will be on hand toanswer any questions. Representatives of

the following hospitals will be in Dubai this year: BG Klinikum Hamburg, Martini-Kli-nik am Universitätskrankenhaus Hamburg-Eppendorf, Albertinen-Krankenhaus,HELIOS ENDO-Klinik, Kinderwunsch Valentinshof and Asklepios Kliniken Ham-burg. The 41st Arab Health will be taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,from 30 January until 2 February 2017.

New image videos at healthcare-hamburg.com

At last the new image videos for the health-care metropolis Hamburg are online.Around two minutes long, each of the three

videos showcases one or two leading ex-perts from Hamburg: Kirsten Staab fromHamburg’s representative office in Dubai,Professor Christian Jürgens, medical direc-tor at the BG Klinikum Hamburg, and Pro-fessor Thorsten Gehrke, medical director atHELIOS ENDO-Klinik Hamburg, togetherwith his colleague Dr Alaa Aljawabra, whois a senior orthopaedic and trauma surgery

consultant at the hospita. The videos present the wide range of medical servicesand therapy available at Hamburg’s hospitals, as well as the benefits of Hamburgwith its maritime flair for international patients. All videos additionally feature subtit-les in Arabic. More information

Asklepios Harburg: heart surgeons are first to use innovative atrial clip method

For the first time in Germany, surgeons at As-klepios Klinikum Harburg’s Cardiac SurgeryClinic have used the very latest generation ofatrial clips to close the left atrial appendage.Taking just one hour, this new minimally-inva-sive beating heart procedure is not only moregentle on patients but also dispenses with theneed for anticoagulant drugs post-surgery.“Problems with the atrial appendage in pati-ents with atrial fibrillation are by no means un-common: among 60-year-olds, one in ten al-

ready suffers from atrial fibrillation, while the proportion is as high as one third inthose over 80. Of these patients, roughly five percent are unable to take blood thin-ners, which are essential if one is to avoid a stroke. For such patients the new clipmethod is a very good alternative to the previous catheter-based solutions”, ex-plains Dr Michael Laß, chief cardiac surgeon at Asklepios Klinikum Harburg. Whenthe clip is used to close the left atrial appendage during beating heart surgery, thisadditionally serves to electrically insulate the area, preventing a recurrence of atrialfibrillation in this part of the heart.

Asklepios introduces electronic patient records

The Asklepios hospital group will be in-troducing electronic patient records thisyear. The new hospital information sys-

tem (HIS) will initially be trialled at theAsklepios Westklinikum in Rissen and at15 other hospitals outside Hamburg.“We are convinced that rolling out thesystem at one hospital will provide uswith enough information to ensure that it

can be better tailored to the needs of other facilities and made more user-friendly,”explains Asklepios medical director Professor Christoph Herborn. First and fore-most, the introduction of the new system is intended to reduce the work involved indocumenting patient records, which in many cases are still written by hand; this ta-kes up a lot of time that is then not available to devote to the patient, says Herborn.In future, examination findings such as blood test results and MRI images will onlybe entered electronically and can then be digitally accessed by hospital staff at anytime. Asklepios is the first private hospital group in Germany to introduce electronicpatient records. The plan is for the new hospital information system to be installedin all the group’s hospitals by 2019.

altona Diagnostics: infectious disease test kits fromHamburg

Swift action is needed if an epidemic breaksout. What everyone wants to know first andforemost is whether they themselves havebeen infected. The answer comes courtesyof altona Diagnostics: this Hamburg-basedbiotech firm develops, produces and sellsmolecular biological tests for the detection ofpathogens. Since it was founded in 2007,altona Diagnostics has released several ofthe world’s first commercially available real-

time PCR testing systems for the detection of human infectious diseases such asSARS, EHEC, the Ebola and Zika viruses and MERS-CoV.

In 2012, the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV forshort, was first identified in Saudi Arabia and found to cause severe illness in hu-mans. The virus has repeatedly entered the human population via contact with in-fected dromedary camels. Since then, over 1,800 cases have been identified world-wide, mainly in the Middle East, including more than 650 related deaths. GrantedEmergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA), the altona Diagnostics test kit assists in the rapid diagnosis, patient ma-nagement and epidemiology of suspected MERS-CoV cases.

“We are confident that our RealStar® test kit for MERS-CoV will help this pathogento be identified and treated at an early stage. We are delighted that our product hasalready become well established in the Arab market after less than two years, andlook forward to marketing other test kits for the detection of tropical pathogens inthese countries in future”, says Dr Gregor Bochenek, Sales Manager Eastern Euro-pe & Middle East at altona Diagnostics. From 30 January to 2 February 2017, thecompany will be appearing for the first time at the Arab Health.

Hamburg’s “new acoustic marvel”: Elbphilharmonie officially inaugurated

It was a superlative opening ceremony: af-ter ten years of construction, Hamburg’sElbphilharmonie concert hall was officiallyinaugurated on 11 January 2017 with aconcert given by the NDR ElbphilharmonieOrchestra. The performance in the concerthall with its 2,100 seats and brilliantacoustics was attended by many illustriousguests, including Germany’s PresidentJoachim Gauck, Federal Chancellor Ange-

la Merkel and Olaf Scholz, the First Mayor of Hamburg. For those curious onloo-kers outside, the music was translated into a light show that was projected onto thefacade of the spectacular concert hall. The concert marked the start of a three-week opening festival that will feature a number of other musical highlights from 11to 29 January 2017. In this “new acoustic marvel”, as German President JoachimGauck dubbed the Elbphilharmonie in his opening address, visitors will now betreated to a wide-ranging programme of music and entertainment in three concerthalls, each boasting their own very special atmosphere. The exclusive Westin Hotel & Resort in the east wing of the Elbphilharmonie alrea-dy opened in November 2016. The 21-storey hotel has floor-to-ceiling windows thatafford guests a breathtaking view of the city and its port. The Plaza, a viewing plat-form that is open to the public from 9 am until midnight each day, likewise openedin November 2016.More information

Exclusive shopping experience: new Accessories Hallopens at Alsterhaus

On 16 November 2016, Hamburg’s Alster-haus department store on the city’s Jungfern-stieg celebrated the completion of its new Ac-cessories Hall and thus the first stage of amulti-year conversion. More than 800 guestscame to the opening of the completely redesi-gned Atrium, where shoppers can now find anexquisite selection of international brands:bags and accessories from brands such asCéline, Saint Laurent, Fendi and Valentino,

watches and jewellery courtesy of the exclusive Swiss jeweller Bucherer, and high-class gourmet and gift articles from London’s Fortnum & Mason.Until 2020, Alsterhaus is undergoing a complete revamp under the direction of Klei-hues + Kleihues and in future will be one of the first choices for anyone seeking ex-

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SERVICE

Upcoming EventsJanuary 30th til February 2nd, 2017: Arab Health 2017, Dubai, UAE

March 24th til April 23rd, 2017: Hamburger DOM, Hamburg, Germany

April 4th til April 6th, 2017: Aircraft Interiors Expo, Hamburg, Germany

Contact Gulf RegionHamburg Representative Office Dubai, UAEMs. Kirsten StaabPhone +971 4 44 70 100E-Mail: kirsten.staab@ahkuae.com

Contact Hamburg, Germany Dr. Monika Rulle (Ms.)Medical Tourism, FreelancerHamburg Tourist BoardPhone +49 40 30 05 12 41E-Mail: rulle@freelancer.hamburg-tourismus.de

The full overview of our offerings can be found at www.hamburg-healthcare.comOur service team is always happy to assist you: +49(0)40 - 300 51 241

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