National Guard Health Affairs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia implements Agfa HealthCare's IMPAX RIS/PACS

Mortsel, Belgium - 17 April 2013 - 16:00 CET - Agfa HealthCare announces that it has implemented a complete IMPAX Picture Archiving and Communication System/Radiology Information System (PACS/RIS) and Clinical Application solution at the new National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA) hospital in Al Madinah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The comprehensive solution also includes IMPAX Business Intelligence plus two DX-D 600 Direct Radiography (DR) units.

Advanced solution fills hospital's needs at all levels

NGHA is a highly respected healthcare organization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It provides healthcare to National Guard personnel, their dependents, and other eligible people. It has five hospitals, including the new 320-bed Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Hospital in Al Madinah.  To win this prestigious project, Agfa HealthCare went through NGHA's stringent and highly competitive tender process.

"Agfa HealthCare was very open about how things would be done, with a clear roadmap of all aspects, including costs, accuracy and effectiveness," comments Mr. Ali Al Kurdi, PACS administrator and Project Manager at NGHA, Madinah. "The solution itself is very advanced, user-friendly and fulfilled our needs at all levels: IT, radiology and hospital management. Agfa HealthCare's very strong reputation worldwide as a leader in PACS and radiology played a role, as well. Finally, the Agfa HealthCare team in Saudi Arabia impressed us, and won our respect and trust."  He continues "These aspects together give us a complete solution that enhances our efficiency, improves our workflow, results in less downtime, and provides us with the excellent support and quick response time we need."

Single, integrated workflow

Agfa HealthCare's advanced IMPAX RIS/PACS workflow system will provide the hospital with a single, integrated solution for data management and reporting. The benefits include smoother workflow, faster results, consolidated patient information, efficient patient turnaround and more.

The contract includes IMPAX Business Intelligence, which supports decision making by allowing healthcare managers and providers to compile, organize and manage clinical, quality, financial and administrative data.

The agreement also includes the first two Agfa HealthCare DX-D 600 ceiling-suspended direct digital X-ray rooms in Saudi Arabia. The top-of-the-line DX-D 600 offers a full portfolio of fully-motorized, semi-automatic and manual configurations. The versatile system is equipped with dual Cesium Iodide DR detectors in the wall stand and table.

Fast delivery, high-quality products and customer-centric services

"We are very pleased to be building our relationship with such a highly respected healthcare organization as NGHA, as well as with our project team mate, Advanced Electronics Company (AEC)," comments Mustafa Hamdy, General Manager, Agfa HealthCare Saudi Arabia Ltd. "This project fits well in our strategy of expanding our presence in the key market of Saudi Arabia, and provides an excellent reference site for us."

"We were proud to team with Agfa HealthCare and NGHA for this project," says Othman Dahash of Advanced Electronics Company (AEC). "NGHA demands fast delivery, high-quality products and customer-centric services, and Agfa HealthCare clearly demonstrated its excellence in those areas."

About Agfa

The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world’s leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,948 million euro in 2010.

About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions.  The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's.  Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2010 were 1,180 million euro.  For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfahealthcare.com