newseditor How Saudi Arabia’s Healthcare Sector Is Adopting Digital Transformation :
One of the few benefits of a global health emergency is that it can lead to significant innovation. When the pandemic was at its worst, the healthcare industry displayed innovative solutions that cut across fields, including industrial design and drug research and development.
The coronavirus pandemic unintentionally catalyzed Saudi Arabia’s public healthcare sector to undergo a digital transformation. It burdened the Kingdom’s healthcare system, highlighting the need for more capable apps for remote access to patient records and vaccination booking platforms.
Director of the Centre of Healthcare Intelligence at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center (KFSH&RC), Dr Mohammad Alhamid, said innovation is crucial in the healthcare sector, [especially] with the increase in chronic diseases and the need for specialized care as the world’s population ages and becomes more chronically ill.
This article will explore the digital revolution in Saudi Arabia’s healthcare system. Find out how the Kingdom is partnering with tech startups to provide digital solutions to improve healthcare in the nation and the entire Middle East region.
Digital Transformation in Saudi’s Healthcare System
Digital healthcare can immensely enhance healthcare results and effectiveness in KSA, generating up to $27 billion by 2030. An analysis run by the Saudi’s Center for Improving Value in Health found that broader adoption of digital healthcare technologies might result in an additional $15 billion to $27 billion in economic benefits for the KSA health system in 2030.
Alhamid also believes that cutting-edge technology improves healthcare quality while lowering costs. For example, AI-powered diagnostic technologies may properly identify diseases and ailments early, enabling early intervention and improved outcomes, which lowers the cost of treating diseases in their mature stages.
Substantial progress has been achieved regarding this, such as executing the health reform of Vision 2030 to improve healthcare efficiency, the standard of care, and overall satisfaction. Their goal is to generate meaningful dialogues and collaborations that will advance development and influence the future of healthcare by bringing together specialists worldwide.
For instance, to improve service to the nation’s expanding population of more than 35 million people, the Saudi Ministry of Health has been deploying multi-cloud solutions built on VMware Cloud Foundation. Health officials have deployed VMware Cloud Foundation as the unified platform for their cloud environment, distributing workloads across the clouds of service providers like STC and Mobily to streamline the ministry’s IT infrastructure.
The ministry can now deliver safe, cloud-based services to various public healthcare organizations, such as hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies, greatly increasing their efficiency and allowing them to expand and innovate. In addition, every healthcare facility will be able to access virtual infrastructure and apps offered as a service and create and deploy apps from the cloud, allowing them to innovate and offer patients top-notch services.
Additionally, KFSH&RC utilizes a shared electronic medical records system across its departments and primary locations in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Madina to improve the patient and staff experience. This system allows KFSH&RC to have a holistic perspective of existing and prospective system capacities to guide daily administration and operations.
