Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) has signed up Fresenius Medical Care, a leading provider of products and services for patients with chronic kidney failure, for provision of dialysis services across the emirate.

The signing of the maintenance service agreement culminates several months of discussions between Seha and Fresenius Medical Care based on the proposed partnership agreement announced in an MOU in last September.

Seha, the owner and operator of all public hospitals and clinics in Abu Dhabi, said the deal guarantees world-class expertise to help enhance the treatment of patients suffering from renal disorders relating to kidney failure.

As per the agreement, Fresenius Medical Care has been named as Seha’s partner to improve the provision of renal dialysis services offered in Abu Dhabi.

Seha's integrated network includes 12 hospitals and 62 ambulatory, family and primary care clinics and two blood banks in the emirate. The network includes dialysis units at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Tawam, Mafraq, Al Rahba, Liwa and Madinat Zayed Hospitals.

Seha is currently in the process of building another larger dialysis facility near Mafraq Hospital that will provide care for up to 264 more patients, said a top official.

Fresenius Medical Care is the world's leading provider of products and services for patients with chronic kidney failure.  With a network of 2,757 dialysis clinics in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Africa, Fresenius Medical Care treated 214,648 dialysis patients around the world as of December 31, 2010.

Saif Bader Al Qubaisi, chairman of Seha, said, "Our vision is to provide customers and communities with world-class healthcare in Abu Dhabi. We wished to engage a competent manager to provide dialysis services in Abu Dhabi so that Seha may achieve world class healthcare status. We believe we have such a partner in Fresenius Medical Care."

“This agreement enables Fresenius Medical Care to expand its presence in a key Middle Eastern market,” said

Dr Emanuele Gatti, the company’s global chief strategist and CEO for Europe, Latin America, the MEA, said “As a vertically-integrated dialysis company, we are the right partner for successful, long-term cooperation to improve the quality of dialysis patients’ lives in Abu Dhabi. At the same time, the contract is an excellent basis for further growth of our company in this region.”

Carl Stanifer, Seha CEO said Fresenius and its affiliates were members of a well-established and reputable healthcare organisation currently providing dialysis care to patients on the basis of world-class quality and safety standards.

"We are very excited that they will be bringing in their management systems to not only improve delivery of services to our patients, but through the knowledge transfer program, educate our Seha staff on advanced techniques and management principles in delivering world-class services in a financially responsible way," he added.-TradeArabia News Service