On the basis of belief in the importance of screening eye diseases and problems, the first step of the examination the diabetic retinopathy was launched on Thursday 8th of March. Dr Hassan Al Dhibi, Vitreoretinal & Uveitis Senior Academic Consultant at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, said: “diabetic retinopathy is one of the important complications of diabetes which is common in Saudi Arabia.” He clarified the danger of retinopathy is not fully appeared in the beginning, but when the patient gets 45-50 years old, the serious symptoms start showing up and affect the vision. Therefore, it is very important to do an early specialized examination to fight this disease.

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the causes of vision loss, the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics showed that there are more than 7 million Saudi persons have diabetes and 700 thousand of patients might expose to a loss of vision, stressing that this percentage will be increased about 30% in 2045. Therefore, KKESH launched a new project to examine diabetic retinopathy by telediagnosis using artificial intelligence, with cooperation of diabetes centres and primary care centres from all around the Kingdom to achieve complete protection and avoid its serious symptoms. With the presence of Dr Faisal Al Dahmashi, the Assistant Undersecretary for hospital services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Abdulaziz Al Rajhi, the CEO  of King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, and specialty physicians.

The inauguration ceremony has revealed the project will begin in the first quarter of this year and target to examine 10 thousand patients spread over eight months. Moreover, the main point of the comprehensive national programme is to cover all Saudi Arabia’s regions.

Sami Al Ghamdi, the medical coordinator for the project in Eye Specialist at Riyadh, stated that the idea of the project is a telediagnosis communication model with AI, and the fundus photography taken by special devices placed in diabetes centres and primary care centres, so the centre in King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital receive the images to categorise, read, and provide a complete report to reviewers.

He added “The project helps in the fight against blindness caused by diabetic retinopathy and raises community awareness of the risks of the diabetic retinopathy on the eye, and makes a model to contribute to building a national integrated programme more broadly in the future.”

Al Ghamdi continues: “King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital has created technical aspects for this national programme and offers devices that work on preparing and training cadres. In cooperation with MOH representative in public administration for specialized centres which will focus its effort to provide necessary places for the devices.