Saudi KAMC slows spread of COVID-19 by using Avaya App to collaborate

MAKKAH — King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC), a leading not-for-profit healthcare facility based in Makkah, has slowed the spread of the coronavirus across the region by setting up expert steering commmittees that can meet and collaborate safely through Avaya Spaces.

Through Avaya Spaces, the all-in-one video collaboration app for the digital workplace from Avaya, King Abdullah Medical City has been able to coorindate an effective COVID-19 response, meeting the medical needs of the region’s population while keeping healthcare providers safe. The facility’s use of the immersive collaboration app as a cornerstone of its strategy exemplifies Saudi Arabia’s digitally focused response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

KAMC used Avaya Spaces to establish an always-on, specialized workflow-based steering committee made up of medical and administrative experts, to coordinate COVID-19 responses across teams quickly, to slow the spread of the virus.

“The application contributed to building a fast and adaptive work environment, helping us to overcome the rapid changes and challenges caused by the COVID-19 virus. It offered our teams alternative and effective methods to continue working, so that we could meet the medical needs of both the people and authorities of Mecca,” said Eng. Mohsen Baabdallah, executive director of information technology at KAMC.

“Avaya Spaces facilitated virtual meetings, promoted group medical cooperation, and allowed business teams to create workspaces that enable them to send messages, share content, and manage medical tasks smoothly, and this is to ensure that employees are safe from infection with the virus."

Avaya Spaces changed the way works gets done. It helps bring together distributed groups of people instantly with immersive workspaces where they can message, meet, share content and manage tasks from a browser or mobile device, and provides an easy, secure and effective way to collaborate delivered via the cloud.

At KAMC, the app was integral to the facility’s COVID-19 response. With it, the facility’s teams were able to coordinate quickly to implement plans that drastically slowed the spread of the virus. Medical teams, meanwhile, used the app to provide remote healthcare services.

The coronavirus recovery rate in Saudi Arabia has continued to increase, nearing 90% in mid-August, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

According to Zouheir Diab, managing director – Saudi Arabia, Avaya, the long and close relationship between Avaya and King Abdullah Medical City meant that the healthcare facility could quickly implement Avaya Spaces and derive tremendous value from the application almost instantly.

“King Abdullah Medical City is one of the largest and most advanced medical cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we’re proud of the role that our technology has played in its successful COVID-19 response,” he said.

“Saudi Arabia’s response to the coronavirus has been rightly celebrated across the world, and is characterized by a willingness to embrace advanced, digital technologies. Nowhere is this more obvious than in Makkah, where King Abdullah Medical City has used Avaya Spaces to develop distributed steering committees and working groups to control the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of its citizens.” — SG