Healthcare as a catalyst to Saudi Vision 2030

As good health enables people and businesses to unleash their true potential and contribute to sustain strong economies, the healthcare sector then serves as the backbone that supports these goals.

Guided by the kingdom’s Health Sector Transformation Programme, the healthcare sector has been working concertedly to invest in and implement initiatives that seek to improve preventative care, enhance capacities, increase clinical research, boost innovation, and accelerate the use of advanced technology to establish effective patient care and best experiences.

These efforts are funneled towards creating an equitable ecosystem that allows for and safeguards the diversified and robust socio-economic landscape the kingdom’s leaders have envisioned.

Does the Saudi healthcare market present any unique challenges compared to regional and global peers?

Saudi Arabia’s healthcare market presents learning and growth opportunities. For instance, the increase in the kingdom’s population is expected to fuel the demand for healthcare services. Correspondingly, the healthcare system is faced with the burgeoning need to uncover solutions for evolving healthcare needs, optimise operations to manage growing patient volumes, and channel resources and investments towards continual research and development to protect the patient community against unforeseen disruptions.

Meanwhile, the kingdom’s leaders have worked tirelessly to create conducive policies encouraging cross-sector partnerships to strengthen local talent and enhance clinical innovation to propel the sector towards advancement.

In the long run, this focus on expanding healthcare capabilities to tackle challenges means the kingdom is poised to position itself as a strong frontrunner in adopting new technologies, discovering medical breakthroughs, and achieving exceptional patient care outcomes to impact the global healthcare sector positively.

How does the emerging trends of the metaverse and Web3.0 intersect with medicine

Successful implementation of the metaverse and Web 3.0 in the medical field may improve equity of access to healthcare. The metaverse integrates physical and virtual worlds, providing a unique platform for patients’ consultations with certified healthcare providers. This allows patients to receive care at their convenience, anytime and anywhere.

However, for effective consultation and diagnosis in the virtual world, healthcare providers’ knowledge of the patient’s medical history and access to electronic health records is a requisite. The latest Web 3.0 is catered towards individuals offering access to interoperable, patient-owned records and data. Once fully developed and regulated, Web 3.0 may allow virtual care in the metaverse, making care and treatment more accessible despite logistical or geographical challenges.

In the future, the large-scare adoption of the metaverse and Web 3.0 will open gates to infinite possibilities in healthcare by making cross-border collaboration, research, experiments, education, training, and other activities more feasible to initiate.

Talk to us about the role KFSH&RC has played in driving Saudi Arabia’s healthcare ecosystem.

Established in 1975, KFSH&RC has endeavored to provide its patients with a personalised and comprehensive healthcare experience to reach their ultimate wellness.
Today, we are the national tertiary/quaternary referral centre for diseases that are generally unable to be treated elsewhere in the kingdom.

We specialise in oncology, cardiology, organ transplantation, genetics, neurosciences, and metabolic diseases, seeing circa 10,000 patients every weekday across three branches in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Madinah. KFSH&RC houses approximately 16,468 staff from over 60 countries, with Saudi nationals accounting for half our talent pool.

In line with the government’s overarching healthcare vision, KFSH&RC is committed to ensure the steady growth of the healthcare sector, achieve goals by focusing on clinical excellence, research, and education, and become one of the world’s top institutions. In February 2023, KFSH&RC ranked number one in Brand Finance’s inaugural Academic Medical Centres study in the MENA region and placed in the top 20 globally.

This is owing to our patient-centric focus and a strong reputation for integrated educational and research outputs – a testament to our leading-edge capabilities and efforts to put Saudi Arabia at the forefront of leading healthcare nations.

What role have partnerships and business collaboration played in KFSH&RC’s growth?
Partnerships and collaborations have ensured our continued progress, agility, and advancement. We recognise these relationships as opportunities to share/extend our best practices, learn, and subsequently incorporate new thinking, which is especially critical for growth in the healthcare sector.

As an organisation, we constantly seek out synergetic collaborators with goals and values aligned to ours, i.e., excelling in patient care and experience, improving operational efficiency, advancing technical capabilities, and enhancing research and educational capacities.

Some of our most recent and significant collaborations include a strategic partnership with Roche to bolster our research faculties, and our cooperation with Oracle-Cerner to strengthen the kingdom’s healthcare sector and its services with technological developments.

Additionally, we have also signed agreements with national and international entities such as the following: Project Management Institute, Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence, Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Massachusetts General Hospital, Houston Methodist Global Health Care Services, Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, and American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

Looking ahead, we remain open to forging new ties that would take our services and competencies to greater heights.

How has KFSH&RC contributed to increasing accessibility and capabilities of the regional healthcare sector?

At KFSH&RC, we strive to understand the evolving healthcare needs in the kingdom and beyond. We keep a close watch to identify and address challenges that may impact our workforce’s capability to provide quality care or those that impede our patients’ accessibility to proper treatment. In this light, emerging technology has become increasingly critical in enabling efforts to ensure positive outcomes.

In 2021, KFSH&RC’s online health management tool, Altakhassusi, was recalibrated and rebranded to empower our patients by providing them access to their healthcare records whenever required.

Subsequently, in 2022, we officially launched a state-of-the-art Capacity and Command Centre. It employs artificial intelligence, predictive and descriptive analytics to enable greater efficiency in terms of managing patient volume, experience, safety, and the movement of patients in real-time.

Since its opening, the center has carried out more than 86,450 interventions, decreasing patient waiting time by 52.1 percent in the laboratory, 27 percent in pharmacy, and 6 percent in emergency medicine LOS and increase number of emergency visits by 21.4 percent.

At the recent LEAP23 event, we presented cutting-edge, AI-driven systems that optimise operations and empower staff to manage and cater to patients’ needs effectively. Moreover, they also help to improve resource management, reduce waiting time, and promote operating room efficiency.

KFSH&RC is also invested in working on ways to use the power of technology to provide inclusive care with a virtual reality programme to aid children with autism develop essential life skills, as well as to promote real-world application of the metaverse to reduce healthcare access limitations and enhance staff training.

How important is talent in building a healthcare sector?

Finding and nurturing the right talent is vital in building and sustaining a thriving healthcare ecosystem. Since KFSH&RC’s establishment, we are proud to have played an instrumental role in shaping and nurturing talents in the kingdom, with about one in five of Saudi Arabia’s doctors having trained with the hospital at some point in their careers.

At KFSH&RC, we believe that an effective and efficient workforce is the most fundamental pillar that upholds our organisation and its longstanding success. As our talent is our most essential asset, their satisfaction and perspective are determining elements of the health and wellness of the organisation and the kingdom as a whole.

KFSH&RC’s employees are stationed across a broad range of critical and front-line roles; as such, we endeavor to foster an environment where they feel empowered. The onus falls on the management and leadership to cultivate a culture characterised by inclusivity, encouragement, and enablement.

How has KFSH&RC sought to solve the issue of talent retention?

We continue to enhance our ability to attract and retain the best talent by addressing several components, i.e., strategy, performance management, employee engagement, and leadership development and succession planning.

KFSH&RC invested in several capability-building programs based on our strategic priorities. These include ongoing career acceleration programmes and educational activities that encourage interdisciplinary learning. We focus on implementing interactive initiatives and meetings to drive engagement based on employees’ needs and career goals.

In addition, we incorporate a succession planning framework that identifies and recognises critical contributions and achievements every year. I am proud to lead an organisation encompassing a group of intuitive, people-oriented practitioners – an essential attribute in our line of work. Across the board, we also exercise two-way conversations to ensure each employee is seen and heard.

What can we expect over the horizon in terms of announcements from KFSH&RC?

We remain focused on achieving the goals under the kingdom’s Health Sector Transformation Programme. Vision 2030’s priorities will continue to guide our journey towards offering quality care and services of the highest standards to the global patient community. KFSH&RC looks forward to another successful year with solid partnerships, technological advancements, and new milestones and records.