by Johnson & Johnson Middle East and INSEAD
Johnson & Johnson Middle East, in partnership with the INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, launched the Middle East Healthcare Leadership Programme. Based on a similar training programme in Europe, the Middle East Healthcare Leadership Programme (MEHLP) aims to provide healthcare managers with business and leadership skills required to deliver world class services across the region.
Twenty senior healthcare leaders, selected from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Lebanon, participated in the inaugural development programme, hosted at INSEAD’s new Centre for Executive Education and Research in Abu Dhabi. The programme focused on sharing established international best-practice in three core areas of healthcare management: leadership, management excellence and innovation.
During his visit to the newly opened INSEAD Centre for Executive Education and Research in Abu Dhabi, Dr. Ali Bin Shakar, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, commented:” Leadership is a key issue in the Ministry’s strategic plan. Employing trained healthcare specialists and managers is not enough; we would like to embed leadership skills in our staff to further upgrade the quality of our healthcare services. For me, the measurement of leadership lies in taking initiative”.
The programme this week is a pilot of a much more extensive series of regional programmes that aims to push continuous, best-practice improvements in healthcare management, ensuring permanently high levels of innovation and service for the benefit of patients across the Middle East.
Dr. Mamdouh Ayad, Strategic Affairs Director, Johnson & Johnson Medical Middle East, commented: “This initiative has been achieved in partnership with INSEAD and is driven by Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to developing the communities in which we operate. Over the past 25 years Johnson & Johnson Middle East has invested in training for specialist healthcare practitioners, however, this is the first programme of its kind to foster leadership and excellence in healthcare management”.
Steve Chick, INSEAD Programme Director and Professor of Technology and Operations Management, added: ”Our aim is to bring best-in-class research and learning to the region as well as sharing best management models from the region with the rest of the world . We endeavour to develop the local content of the Middle East Healthcare Leadership Programme, for example the modules on management and public sector operational excellence are based on the regional experiences of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance programmes”.
Participants in the Middle East Healthcare Leadership Programme (MEHLP) took part in sessions focused on high level analysis, use of teamwork to solve complex issues and best-practice examples of how to empower healthcare staff to deliver greater effectiveness and quality in services. The course is designed to draw on the common characteristics and qualities of effective leadership, but also to provide practical tools that can be applied in effective daily management.
Muna Al Kuwari, Acting Director, Women’s Health Project Manager, Central Department of Primary Healthcare, UAE, said: “I greatly appreciated the modules relevant to team work... this programme gave me practical tools that I can already start using in my work”.
Attending from Saudi Arabia, Dr. Tawfiq A.M. Khoja, Director General, Executive Board, Council of Ministers, added: “The Middle East Healthcare Leadership Programme is well designed and highlights common characteristics and qualities of effective leaders. It has also added to my knowledge in terms of daily management issues as well as empowering people for more quality in healthcare facilities”.
Johnson & Johnson Medical Middle East
Johnson & Johnson, through its operating companies, is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly based manufacturer of healthcare products, as well as a provider of related services, for the consumer, pharmaceutical and medical devices and diagnostics markets. Johnson & Johnson Medical Middle East has been operating in the region for the past 25 years with 11 business units covering surgical, cardiological, orthopedics, women’s health and sterilisation products. Johnson & Johnson Medical Middle East works very closely with various partners in the communities where it operates.
