Henk Siebren de Jong
Chief of International Markets and a member of Philips’ Executive Committee
Henk Siebren de Jong
“COMMUNICATION IS KEY TO BETTER HEALTH”
Philips is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. “Hospitals” Magazine had a special interview with Mr. Henk Siebren de Jong, Chief of International Markets and a member of Philips’ Executive Committee to shed light on the challenges they face in emerging and developing markets and their latest technologies to be introduced at Arab Health 2018. Below is the interview:
Can You tell us what was your journey like to get where you are today?
I studied Business Administration and joined Philips in 1990. Since then, I held a number of leadership roles in the company, I worked in Product Management and Marketing Management. Since 2012, I worked in emerging markets and for the last 5 years, I was the CEO of Philips in Latin America. The 1st of April 2017, I was appointed Chief of International Markets and a member of Philips’ Executive Committee.
What are the main Challenges that you face in emerging and developing markets especially in the Middle East?
During 40% of my career, I worked in developing markets, and let me tell you, there are many challenges as there are many opportunities that drive you to deliver the best performance you can. With a developing country and a young population, you have the time and opportunity to establish the best healthcare system and organize it in a way to have consistent profitable growth. As where comparing to other countries with an older population, you are concerned in delivering solutions in the fastest way possible.
What are the latest technologies you are showcasing here during Arab health 2018?
We, as Philips, are on a mission to remove limits of care, we deliver solutions that connect technology, data people to give the best outcome possible at the right time and at a lower cost. We have for example the intellispace Cardiovascular, which is designed to help manage patients in a single customizable workspace. We know that a heart patient will have many other chronic diseases, this system will provide us with a complete view a patient situation with less time and effort. Azurion is another of our top innovations, it is the next generation image-guided therapy platform, that allows an outstanding patient care with less time and better consistency. We have solutions that can improve patients’ experience in the hospital room to the home. Home care has been one of our priorities too, we believe that the patient can benefit much more if he is at home surrounded by his family; that’s why we have developed many products that can manage the health condition of the patient long after he leaves the hospital.
How do you evaluate the healthcare system in the UAE?
I think the healthcare system in the UAE has come a long way. Communication is key to better health and I find that communication and interaction with people here are very good. Lots of awareness campaigns that help people know better about their health and work on their health. Also, we find lots of clinic and hospitals throughout the country equipped with the latest technologies. There is one area of improvement that I find necessary to develop; the informatics. The UAE is known for being a modern country that relies on technology and informatics, it should be implemented more in the healthcare system.
Education and training are crucial in the implementation of any new technology? How do you deal with your clients in this area?
We at Philips believe that education and training can help maximize our products’ performance, that is why we have training centers where healthcare providers can learn through courses and programs how to best use our products. Also, we have on-site training, we work closely with management teams in the hospital to define the needs and requirements of the medical staff, and we design a tailor-made educational program based on that.
