Department of Health – Abu Dhabi boosts sector’s preparedness for cyber challenges

Emirates News Agency
Dec 26, 2022

Department of Health – Abu Dhabi boosts sector’s preparedness for cyber challenges


ABU DHABI, 23rd December, 2022 (WAM) -- During the Healthcare Protective Shield Wargaming Conference, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the regulator of the healthcare sector in the emirate, identified different risk scenarios and helped prepare healthcare entities in Abu Dhabi for cyber threats by evaluating effectiveness of entities’ incident response and communication plan with the help of simulated cyber incident response scenarios.

Hosted recently in Abu Dhabi as the first of its kind in the region, the conference was organised in collaboration with the Cyber Security Council with the participation of 10 biggest healthcare groups of Abu Dhabi, representing more than 370 entities. The Cyber wargaming conference focused on assessing the sector’s preparedness to handle cyber challenges and pinpoint recommendations and best practices, ensuring the readiness of the sector and continuity of care.

The event saw DoH showcasing its efforts in the digitisation of healthcare services and emphasised on the importance of having high levels of data protection to protect all the patients’ data and sensitive information. Additionally, it covered a simulation of the Department’s Medical Operations Command (MOC) “Information Sharing” and “Patient Transfer Module” in the Estijabah Platform. The module is used for patient evacuation from one healthcare facility to another in order to ensure an uninterrupted continuity of care delivery to patients.