Saudi Arabia continues to work towards restructuring its healthcare industry under the umbrella of the strategic socio-economic initiatives under Saudi Vision 2030, showing significant success in its mission to enhance the well-being and health of individuals and the community, including residents, citizens, and visitors.
The five-year outlook of the Health Sector Transformation Programme, initiated in 2021, seeks to design a thorough, efficient, and integrated health system focusing on privatisation and technological advances. So far, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has demonstrated progress in:
- Quality and efficiency of healthcare services
- Healthcare service coverage in all regions of Saudi Arabia
- Digital transformation in healthcare
As the government plans to invest more than US$65 billion to develop the country’s healthcare infrastructure, the gears are shifting to create a highly comprehensive and accessible healthcare sector.
Related: Saudi Arabia marks healthcare transformation boom
Here is a look at noteworthy health sector transformation initiatives in 2023.
Saudi Arabia’s advancements in technology
At a time when medical practices are under pressure to perform at their highest level of effectiveness, leading organisations like Philips and Wipro are collaborating with the kingdom. The objective is to promote sustainable digital change in healthcare using global clinical best practices while adhering to regional norms and laws. This implies:
- The healthcare sector will get access to state-of-art technology leading to better health outcomes and improved patient care.
- The improvement in care and staff experience will help reduce general healthcare costs.
- It will strengthen and support regional clinical practice, adaptable workflows, data and service integrations, and decision-making.
Advancements in treatments
A new era of blood cancer treatment by genetically modifying the patient's white blood cells has been ushered in the KSA with the recent approval of cell therapies for blood cancer. This is led by Kite, a Gilead company based in the US, which has been researching the potential of treating the immune system to fight against cancer since its inception.
Consistent research on this ground-breaking treatment is likely to improve capabilities, referrals, protocols, and data generation concerning the oncology ecosystem in Saudi Arabia.
Related: How healthtech solutions are shaping primary care in Saudi Arabia
Progress in research and training
Mobilising the country’s youth in research and training is also underway and extends to options like 5G solutions to leave an impact on various sectors, including patient health.
As part of its ongoing Fresh Graduate Programme in Saudi Arabia, Ericsson Saudi Arabia greeted a new cohort of 22 Saudi graduates across engineering, information technology, strategy and commercial management positions. There is growing female representation, with 32 per cent of the new batch including females.
Though not directly related to healthcare, such developments in science and technology through automation, Augmented Reality (AR), or even the Internet of Things (IoT) will aid overall medical and healthcare progress.
In essence, it is clear that the Health Sector Transformation Programme is working successfully towards elevating a value-based healthcare system in Saudi Arabia. Besides new strategic models for disease prevention, equitable healthcare access in terms of geography and digitalisation is likely to expand too.
To learn more about the latest developments in Saudi Arabia's healthcare industry, attend the Global Health Exhibition taking place from 29-31 October at Riyadh Front Exhibition & Conference Center (RFECC). Click here to know more.
