Indra and SESCAM's leadership in digital medical imaging goes international

A delegation of senior officials from the government of Bahrain has visited Toledo this morning with Indra representatives in order to witness first-hand the operation and benefits of the YKONOS project, the benchmark in the field of digital medical imaging developed by the Castile-La Mancha Health Service in conjunction with the technology multinational. In 2011, Indra was awarded a major contract to develop what could be considered the first national health system in the Persian Gulf and for this reason representatives of the Bahraini Ministry of Health have visited Spain to personally see the results of this and other digital health solutions implemented by the company at various health centres.

Aysha Mubarak Jaber Buaneq, the Health Ministry Under-Secretary; Khaled Ali Al-Jalahma, the Director of Health Information; Shafee Habib Alnattei, the Manager of the National Programme; and Mohamed Al Sowaidi, the doctor in charge of the Specialist Care project, have represented the Kingdom of Bahrain on this visit and were accompanied by Diego García Trigo, Indra's Healthcare Director; Mateu Huguet and Juan Diego Cano, Seniors Healthcare Managers. Also present were Luis Carretero, the Managing Director of the Sescam, and Antonio del Barrio, head of the regional health service's IT department, who provided information about some of the main advances that Castile-La Mancha has made in digital healthcare with Indra, the government's technology partner since 2003.

The Ykonos project, considered to be the global benchmark in Digital Medical Imaging, enables diagnostic images and medical reports to be digitised for storage and consultation from all the centres connected to the system. With the development of Ykonos, x-rays, ultrasound images and other diagnostic tests are no longer issued to the user on paper, rather they are sent as digital information by means of an internal network, allowing specialists to immediately analyse them regardless of their location and even view them in 3D.

In addition to the Centre of Excellence of the Ykonos project, located at SESCAM's headquarters, the delegation has also visited Toledo Hospital Complex, whose radiology service is one of the largest in the region. Castile-La Mancha, in collaboration with Indra, is the first Spanish region to have completed the implementation of CAD mammography screening, a diagnostic aid that marks suspect lesions and provides specialists with a second opinion. A liver and lung CAD system is also operational at the Toledo and Guadalajara hospitals.

This visit forms part of a series the Bahraini officials are making to significant health projects carried out by Indra because of its leadership in digital healthcare systems in Spain. Accordingly, the Bahraini delegation has also visited the regions of Madrid and Andalusia, where Indra has successfully implemented its Electronic Prescription project, an area where the company is also leading the way, and has developed the Diraya system, which has facilitated the implementation of digital health records in Andalusia. Indra's experience has also been consolidated by its strong position in the implementation and management of multi-channel information services centres based on internet, mobile telephony and kiosk solutions, with references in the health services of these regions.

Pioneering project in Bahrain

The technology company has exported its proven experience to the Kingdom of Bahrain for the development and global operation of all the applications of its National Health System network within an ambitious €70m project that includes an 11-year outsourcing contract.

The Bahraini National Data Management Centre developed by Indra is fully operational and the company has also implemented its Archiving and Transmission System (PACS) at the Salamaniya Medical Complex (the country's largest hospital). The project also includes the management of a further six peripheral hospitals and 24 health centres, such as the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital and the King Hamad University Hospital, both managed by the Ministry of Defence. All these centres contemplate the provision of healthcare services for the country's 1,200,000 citizens, including expatriates.

Indra is the number one technology multinational in Spain and one of the leaders in Europe and Latin America. It is the second European company in its sector in terms of R&D, with €550 million invested in the last three years. Its turnover in 2011 was €2,688m and today more than half of its income is from international markets. The company employs 40,000 professionals and has customers in 118 countries.