United Arab Emirates, Dubai, March 21, 2017:  His Excellency Humaid Al Qatami, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority and Chairman of the Board held a meeting today at the DHA headquarters to felicitate the members of the scientific committee of the 22nd edition of Dubai International Pharmaceuticals & Technologies Conference & Exhibition – (DUPHAT) which took place recently at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

The aim of the meeting was to appreciate the dedication of the members of the committee, headed by Dr Ali Sayed, Director of Pharmaceutical Services at the DHA, in chalking out the latest scientific program for the DUPHAT conference. 

Al Qatami emphasized the need to strengthen the role of pharmaceutical services and he highlighted the importance of establishing smart pharmacies. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) inaugurated its first ‘robot’ pharmacy at Rashid Hospital in January this year. The smart pharmacy is the first-of-its-kind in the UAE and deploys a robot for dispensing and prescribing medication. The robot dispenses the prescribed medication at the click of a button based on a bar code, minimizing the risk of human error.

Al Qatami added that the pharmacy profession in this part of the world is undergoing substantial transformation towards greater automation, robotics and specialization.