The UAE's healthcare, telecom, and other entities“need to invest in public trust” when it comes to data so that people feel safe that their data is used responsibly, said a senior official of the Ministry of Health and Prevention (Mohap).

“We look at governance and innovation like two sides of the same coin. Our national health strategy emphasises the importance of creating a national integrated, interoperable, and trusted health digital ecosystem. This enables the innovative AI, data analytics to be operated in a framework that is clear, ethical and secure.

"In 2019, the ministry had a federal law regarding the use of information and communication technologies in the health sector. So it has standardized how the data will be collected, shared, and protected, making sure that the privacy of the patient is the centre of all of this. With this, it's important not only to have the standards, but we also need to invest in the public trust, so it's not enough to have deployed all these technologies. We need to make sure that the people feel safe, confident that their data is safe and will be used in a responsible way, as well as to advance their health,” said Dr Nada Al Marzooqi, Director of Public Health and Prevention Department, UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention.

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Earlier this year, a major hospital's data was reportedly leaked, with millions of patients' records compromised. The data included personal demographic information, Emirates ID number, credit card details, and medical histories.

Dr Al Marzooqi was speaking during a panel discussion at the Gitex Global 2025 on Wednesday on“Shaping the Next Era of Digital Health” topic. Khaled Shareef Alawadhi, senior vice president for core & IoT digital services at e& International, also took part in the panel discussion.

“Aligning the innovation with governance can accelerate a responsible AI building, foster collaboration between the public and private, and have a responsive system,” she added.

Dr Nada Al Marzooqi added that interoperability is the backbone of any digital health.

“That is why, in the ministry, we have built a national platform integrated for health data. It's not only collecting and linking data, unifying it. It will also be used to enable data-driven decisions not only in clinical care but also reaching public health policies. That is a very big project that the ministry is working on with all health entities. The success of this will depend on collaboration, not isolation. To have a trusted interoperability, we need a strong partnership between the healthcare entities, telecom firms, big techs, and local innovators,” she said during the panel discussion.

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