Tuesday, September 24th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA- Korea's healthcare information systems will be transferred to Saudi Arabia. On September 22, Korean Health Minister Jin Young and his Saudi Arabian counterpart Abdullah Al Rabeeah met at the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh and signed an agreement to build healthcare information systems in 3,000 health clinics and 80 public hospitals. The two countries will sign the final binding contract after a two-month review period.
In addition, the two sides agreed that Korea's Samsung Seoul Hospital transfer the whole package of its medical technology and systems to Saudi's King Fahad Medical City while training an average of 100 doctors a year for up to ten years. The Korean consortium, consisting of a hospital and an IT service company to be selected later through a competitive bidding process, will build a blood bank and telemedicine system in Saudi Arabia that will allow doctors to diagnose patients at a distance by taking advantage of the Internet and other telecommunications technologies.
The health ministry did not say how much Korea will gain financially from these projects. It, however, said it is in talks with Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates for similar medical cooperation deals.