Royal Philips, a global health technology firm teams up with the Saudi Ministry of Health to provide a cardiovascular information system across the kingdom. The move comes as World Health Organisation figures show cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally and are also highly universal in Saudi Arabia.

Patient medical information will be available on demand at the point of care in each one of the connected hospitals to help improve quality access to cardiology care managed by a network of specialists.

The Taji project will be executed in the cities of Makkah, Jeddah, Al Hafouf, Qaseem, Jizan, Najran, Dammam and Arar. The Philips CVIS includes advanced software technology and image analysis to clarify cardiovascular data management for cardiology departments to work more efficiently and precisely a statement said.

By indicating differing cardiology systems in MOH cardiac centres around the kingdom, the Philips CVIS can help decrease data entry, simplify access to test results generated in other departments, and make it easier, to obtain, examine and share patient data.

The move comes as World Health Organisation figures show cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death universaly and are also highly widespread in Saudi Arabia.

“The project is named as Taji, which marks as an important step by the Ministry of Health towards Saudi vision 2030 and the promotion of cardiology services across Saudi Arabia.”

Advisor to the vice minister and the general supervisor of e-health programs and IT, Dr Ahmed Balkhair, said, “The primary use of telecardiology is to support primary care practitioners in the area of correct diagnosis, thus empowering them to manage cardiac patients with rised confidence. It also improves the clinical training of the average practitioner, by extending the clinician’s level of knowledge at primary level. This will help GPs to offer better care and improve the overall healthcare system.”