Saudi Arabian retinopathy of prematurity national telemedicine program: Achievements and challenges

Saleh A Al Amro; Sami M Al Ghamdi; Marwan A Abouammoh; Fahad Al Aql; Khabir Ahmad; Sulaiman M Alsulaiman

doi:10.4103/sjopt.sjopt_93_22

Saudi Arabian retinopathy of prematurity national telemedicine program: Achievements and challenges

Saudi J Ophthalmol. 2022 Oct 14;36(3):278-282. doi: 10.4103/sjopt.sjopt_93_22. eCollection 2022 Jul-Sep.

Authors

Saleh A Al Amro^{1

2}, Sami M Al Ghamdi¹, Marwan A Abouammoh³, Fahad Al Aql^{4

5}, Khabir Ahmad¹, Sulaiman M Alsulaiman⁶

Affiliations

¹ Research Department, King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Retina-Vitreous Division, The Eye Consultants Specialist Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Former Head, Neonatal Services Improvement Program, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Consultant Neonatologist, Care National Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Vitreoretinal Division, King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The Saudi Arabian Retinopathy of Prematurity National Telemedicine programme (SAROP) is a product of the National Committee for Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). The program includes ROP telescreening, diagnosis, and management of cases requiring treatment. Digital retinal images and filled ROP software requests were uploaded from 20 level-3 neonatal intensive care units (NICU) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital server and the ROP telemedicine website. The data were accessed and reported by qualified retinal and pediatric ophthalmologists. Currently, retinal wide-angle digital cameras are available in 20 of the 31 level-3 NICUs of the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of KSA. This telemedicine approach is practical and effective in detecting and managing ROP cases. In the first 2.5 years, encouraging results were noticed with no unfavorable outcomes in the participating NICUs. Technical challenges were resolved promptly to ensure that the program ran smoothly. Therefore, this ideal state-of-the-art ROP telemedicine program could be also applied to similar and neighboring countries.

Keywords: Retinopathy of prematurity; Saudi Arabia; telemedicine; telescreening.