Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC) is a leading tertiary hospital in Abu Dhabi specializing in complex and highly specialized care, including trauma, oncology, neurosciences, and advanced surgical services. Established in 2019, SSMC integrates world-class clinical care with medical education and research and operates as a subsidiary of PureHealth. Serving patients from across the UAE and the wider region, SSMC has established itself as a regional destination for specialized healthcare.
How is SSMC helping shape the next phase of healthcare transformation in Abu Dhabi?
SSMC has played a pivotal role in the transformation of healthcare in Abu Dhabi, and our ambition extends far beyond delivering advanced clinical services. We see ourselves as contributing to the future direction of healthcare, both within the emirate and internationally. Our focus is on becoming a future-ready healthcare provider, advancing precision medicine and personalized care to improve outcomes and enhance the patient experience.
Building such an organization requires more than investing in infrastructure and advanced capabilities. It demands the cultivation of an innovative organizational culture that embraces continuous learning, agility, and excellence. Medicine is becoming increasingly precise and personalized, enabling earlier intervention, more effective treatments, and improved outcomes. While technology and infrastructure are essential enablers of this transformation, its success ultimately depends on people who possess the knowledge, mindset, and skills required to lead change rather than simply respond to it. This means continuously advancing our capabilities, technologies, and clinical and operational models to support the next generation of healthcare delivery.
Abu Dhabi once sent some patients abroad for highly complex treatment. How far has the emirate progressed toward becoming a destination for that care itself?
Abu Dhabi has made remarkable progress in developing a comprehensive healthcare ecosystem capable of addressing the full spectrum of community healthcare needs. Today, it is increasingly uncommon for patients to travel abroad because a required clinical service is unavailable locally. When patients seek treatment overseas, it is often driven by personal preferences rather than clinical necessity.
It is also important to recognize that Abu Dhabi’s investment over the past several decades has extended beyond the development of world-class clinical services. The emirate has built a broader healthcare ecosystem that attracts research, fosters innovation, and contributes to the advancement of medicine on a global scale. We are increasingly seeing this trend reverse, with patients from across the region, Africa, and parts of Asia choosing Abu Dhabi for their care. At SSMC, we continue to see growth in international patient volumes across specialties such as neurosciences, oncology, robotic surgery, and trauma care.
SSMC has performed more than 1,300 robotic-assisted procedures. Where can robotics meaningfully raise the standard of care?
Robotic surgery is an important component of our strategy to enhance clinical outcomes, precision, and patient safety. We have developed advanced capabilities across a wide range of specialties, including general surgery, urology, neurosurgery, and orthopedics, enabling our teams to perform increasingly complex procedures with greater accuracy.
Our guiding principle is that technology must always serve a clear clinical purpose. There are situations where robotic-assisted surgery offers significant advantages and others where traditional approaches remain more appropriate. Where clinical evidence and individual patient circumstances support its use, we want that capability to be available. The outcomes achieved by our teams continue to validate our vision and reinforce the critical role that robotics and advanced technologies will play in the future of medicine.
Recent regional crises have tested SSMC’s ability to absorb sudden surges in complex trauma. What has that demonstrated about the importance of hospital resilience?
Resilience cannot be created in the midst of a crisis; it must be built well in advance and embedded within the hospital’s operating model. Trauma care is one of SSMC’s core strengths, and over the years we have developed the capacity, expertise, and operational readiness required to respond rapidly when demand surges. These capabilities have been tested on multiple occasions and have consistently demonstrated their effectiveness.
The experience has reinforced the importance of investing in preparedness, maintaining highly skilled multidisciplinary teams, and building systems capable of responding to unforeseen challenges while continuing to deliver exceptional patient care.
PureHealth has emphasized a transition from sick care to healthcare. How is SSMC translating that ambition into clinical practice?
The shift from sick care to healthcare requires earlier intervention, a stronger emphasis on prevention, and a more personalized approach to care delivery. Our Pura Longevity Clinic reflects this philosophy through comprehensive screening programs, early interventions, and highly individualized health plans. We intentionally refer to those using the service as clients rather than patients because our objective is to help prevent illness before medical intervention becomes necessary.
This philosophy extends beyond the hospital through our partnerships with government entities and healthcare providers to advance community health and preventive medicine initiatives across the UAE.
With around 15 AI solutions already in use at SSMC, where can the technology have the greatest impact on care?
We are already leveraging approximately 15 AI-powered solutions across diagnostics, clinical operations, education, finance, and other key areas of the organization. Adoption is guided by a structured and agile innovation framework supported by strong clinical and administrative leadership.
We have also established mechanisms to work directly with innovators, technology developers, and startups to evaluate emerging solutions, refine their applications, and ensure their safe and effective integration into clinical practice. Our guiding principle is simple: technology should improve clinical outcomes and enable healthcare professionals to dedicate more of their valuable time to patients rather than administrative tasks that can be automated or augmented through technology.
Looking five years ahead, what would constitute the most significant transformation in how SSMC delivers care?
The most significant transformation will come from maximizing the use of technology and innovative solutions to address some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges. By deploying the right technologies at scale, we can help mitigate workforce shortages, improve efficiency, and expand access to high-quality care beyond the physical boundaries of the hospital.
Our vision is to make SSMC’s expertise accessible to a much broader population of patients, both regionally and internationally, without assuming that every interaction requires travel to Abu Dhabi. Increasingly, care can be delivered, coordinated, monitored, and supported wherever the patient may be. We also believe that artificial intelligence will accelerate our progress toward precision medicine, personalized care, and the discovery of new therapies, enabling us to deliver better outcomes and redefine the future of healthcare.
