JEDDAH, 9 May — The four-day e-Health Conference and Exhibition — 2001 concluded here yesterday with a series of commendations. Dr. Sultan Bahabri, chairman, international e-Health Association, said that for the first time over 400 participants registered online for a conference.
“There was great pressure on the servers while the presentations were being transmitted, and we had to add more servers to meet the demand,” said Dr. Bahabri.
Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Nuaim, executive director of medical and clinical operations at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, said he will take his e-Health project to deliver the best standards of medical services to all Saudis. This shows the determination behind the Smart Satellite Regional Health Center Program the hospital launched this year, one of a series of technology initiatives in the Kingdom. The first phase of the scheme — satellite computer links and software — has been launched linking the Madinah, Qassim and Dammam areas to the hospital, a center of excellence in the capital, and its twin in Jeddah.
The next two phases are to be completed within two years, adding video conference links nationwide as a cost-efficient method to treat people locally. With the backing of the Health Ministry, the scheme will also see experienced professionals dispatched from Riyadh and Jeddah to regional hospitals which are to be equipped with MRI and CAT scans under leasing or joint venture projects.
“We are moving information, not patients,” says Abdul. Referrals to the top hospitals are expected to drop dramatically, second opinions will be easy to obtain from leading consultants and education will become continuous for all professionals wherever they may be based.
The Kingdom is particularly well suited to e-Health ideas. Remote areas where facilities are few and far between become just a click away from the latest developments. And Saudi Arabia is spearheading a drive to have e-Health recognized globally as a distinct new field of medicine.
