Dr. Al Qasabi: Preventing 100 cases from severe genetic diseases saved half a billion Saudi riyals of care cost
General
23
April
His Excellency Dr. Qasim Al Qasabi, Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) asserted that the research outcome of the organization in 2016 reached 485 scientific researches, pointing out that the research outcomes are distinguished in terms of quotation ratio which amounted to 17 quotes per every research, in comparison with the global ratio of 12 quotes per every research.
Dr. Al Qasabi emphasized, during his inauguration of the 17th Research Annual Report for the Research Centre in King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, which lasts for two days, on the excellent research outcomes achieved in the Saudi Genome Project in the fields of genetic diseases, immune failure, neonatal screening and precision medicine.
KFSH&RC obtained six patents in 2016 compared to 3 in 2015, as this is a direct outcome of the approval adopted by Board of Directors of the Intellectual Property Policy in February 2016, which set out the equal rights of the organization and the inventor as well. The Research Centre managed in the last year to conduct examinations for about 88 thousand people in the field of metabolic diseases, with increase of 17% over the year 2015 Dr. Al Qasabi noted.
Dr. Al Qasabi also added that the Research Centre conducted examinations for 500 cases within the project of molecular examination of genetic diseases in fetuses during pregnancy, up 20% from the year 2015, which resulted in the prevention of 100 cases from severe genetic diseases. He also indicated that this measure saved an economic cost estimated at half a billion Saudi riyals through Provision of medical care for such cases if intervention was not early initiated.
Dr. Al Qasabi added that the Research Centre conducted more than 4000 diagnostic samples in the molecular genome laboratory, up 50% from 2015, and produced more than 25 thousand radiopharmaceuticals with high efficiency that reached a success rate of 99.4%, stressing that the achievements made during the past year underlines the efficiency of research and scientific outcome carried out by King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, which also witnessed the re-recognition of the International Energy Agency as a cooperating center in the region.