In its attempt to digitalize its health sector, Saudi Arabia has just launched its first virtual hospital, reported to be not only the largest in the region but also the largest in the world. The Saudi Minister of Health Fahd Al Jalajel attended the inauguration of SEHA Virtual Hospital (SVH), and was joined by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Abdullah Al Sawaha, the Governor of the Digital Government Authority Eng. Ahmed Bin Mohammad Al-Suwayan, and Ministry of Health's spokesman Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali.
If you’re asking yourself what a virtual hospital actually is, here's how SVH works in brief: SVH consists of 130 hospitals connected to its collaborative network while providing over 30 specialties to patients. Each patient can visit any of the hospitals that are part of SVH's network without needing to go to a specialized center out of town. From there, patients can speak with specialists from across the Kingdom who, in turn, collaborate with junior staff in handling patient cases real time. In addition, SVH is offering emergency interventions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
According to Minister Al Jalajel, SVH is expected to receive 500,000 patients annually. In addition, he said that it is implementing the latest innovative tech in providing real time communication between connected hospitals, as well as providing timely consultations with patients. For instance, the virtual hospital has the capability to hold virtual discussions between staff and patients, or even share diagnoses, such as X-ray scans, with other connected hospitals.
In fact, SVH falls in line with the Health Sector Transformation Program, a goal set by the Kingdom's Vision 2030 program. It was launched just this year with the aim to restructure Saudi Arabia's health sector to be a comprehensive, effective, and integrated health system, which will cater to both Saudis and expatriates.
