Digital health care solutions connect Saudi patients with providers

The UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Simon Collis, hosted a reception on Tuesday for representatives of five of the UK’s leading digital-health companies who were visiting the Kingdom. (AN photo by Bashir Saleh)

RIYADH: In line with the emphasis on digitization in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the Ministry of Health has initiated a number of projects to deliver e-health solutions in recent months.
During Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the UK earlier this year, the Strategic Partnership Council was established, reinforcing the UK’s commitment to support Vision 2030 in a number of sectors, including health care.
The UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Simon Collis, hosted a reception on Tuesday for representatives of five of the UK’s leading digital-health companies who were visiting the Kingdom to discuss the latest innovations in their field.
“Today is an opportunity to look in the health care sector, specifically after the crown prince’s visit to the UK, six months ago. Vision 2030 has emphasized the importance of digitalizing all sectors, including health care. We know that the Ministry of Health has many important programs and initiatives to realize Vision 2030 in e-health,” the ambassador said.
The five companies represented were Proxime, a ‘Software as a Service’ platform for health care providers and medical technology companies; global information analytics company Elsevier; digital-health consultancy Ideal; clinical software developer TPP; and Biotronics3D, which develops medical imaging technology.
Jacqueline Duvoisin, regional director of Elsevier, said that her company has been active in the region for several years. It has firsthand experience of the digitization process, she explained.
“We’ve moved from being a publisher that publishes books and journals that specialize in health care and science, to supplying them in digital form,” she said.
Digital health services are already making an impact in the Kingdom and are helping to connect patients and providers more easily. Vision 2030 includes a plan to establish a unified medical hub for the Kingdom to make it easier for patients to access their medical data from anywhere in the country. The minsitry has launched several initiatives to make consumers here more digitally aware.