Saudi Arabia’s MoH awards project contracts for digitization of ECG paper records

SAUDI ARABIA – The Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has awarded project contracts as part of the second cycle of its project to provide an electronic archiving system for electrocardiographs.

According to the Ministry of Health, the second phase of the mentioned project seeks to deliver an electronic archiving system of electrocardiographs to several MOH-accredited cardiac centers.

All qualifying companies pitched their technology-driven solutions for the second phase of this project led by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health.

Following a rigorous process of reviewing all submitted qualification applications, 18 businesses were selected to take part in the second cycle of the project.

The list of selected businesses, executed through the Ministry of Health, was distributed by the Vision Realization Office.

Examples of qualifying companies include Monaqsat Al Khaleej For Communication and Information Technology, TAG Costultant Engineering, Gulf Medical Co., Ltd., Al Faisaliah Medical Systems Company, and Farouk & Mamoun Tamr & Partners Company.

Other qualifying businesses include Ascend Health Care Solutions, Siemens Healthineers Limited, Global Technologies GT, Alkan Arabia For Communications, Cloud Solutions, Saudi Azm, Attieh Medico Ltd, and Al-Hammad Medical Services.

Arabic Computer Systems, Philips Healthcare Saudi Arabia Ltd, solutions by STC, Al-Muammar Information Systems Company, and Samir Group are the other major corporations that were selected for the second cycle of the project.

The MOH-led project will not only be highly beneficial for heart patients who require frequent ECG reports but the stored data can be useful for research purposes.

Automatic digitization of paper ECGs is an integral part of the Kingdom’s ambitions to digitize its healthcare system and fast-track improvements in patient experience, quality of care, and efficiency.

It is pertinent to note that the second phase of the MOH project to deliver an electronic archiving system for electrocardiographs comes as the Saudi Government is increasing the use of digital healthcare technologies across the region.

In a 2020 paper, McKinsey Global Institute estimated that connected devices and advanced networks in healthcare could generate US$250 billion to US$420 billion in global GDP by 2030.

The analysis found that more widespread adoption of digital healthcare solutions could unlock US$15 billion to US$27 billion more economic benefit to the Saudi health system as a whole in 2030.

Notably, paperless data will represent 12 percent of the potential benefit in 2030, equalling between US$510 million (SAR 1.9 billion) and US$720 million (SAR 2.7 billion) that could be reinvested into key areas in the health system.