Centres & Specialties
1. Purpose
As part of your cataract treatment, your surgeon invites you to evaluate how the surgery has affected your visual comfort during your daily activities.
This evaluation involves the collection and processing of your personal data in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (نظام حماية البيانات الشخصية), promulgated by Royal Decree No. M/19 of 9/2/1443H (September 16, 2021) and amended by Royal Decree No. M/148 of 5/9/1444H (March 27, 2023), hereinafter referred to as the “PDPL,” which has been fully applicable since September 14, 2024.
The purpose of this notice is to provide you with comprehensive information, in clear language, regarding the processing of your personal data. Your participation is entirely voluntary.
2. Who processes your data?
The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSHRC), P.O. Box 3354, Riyadh 11211, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the sole data controller within the meaning of the PDPL. KFSHRC is registered on the National Data Governance Platform, in accordance with the requirements of the PDPL for any processing of sensitive health data.
3. What data is collected?
The data collected in your medical record is all required to ensure your surgical care and the assessment of your visual comfort. This includes your administrative data (contact information, date of care), demographic data (gender, date of birth), medical data (medical history, comorbidities, treatments, diagnosis, visual acuity, implant reference), as well as your responses to the visual comfort assessment questionnaires before and after surgery.
This medical data constitutes sensitive data (Health Data) as defined by the PDPL and, as such, is subject to enhanced protection measures. It will not be further processed in a manner incompatible with the purposes described in this notice.
4. Why is your data being collected?
This evaluation aims to help surgeons compare their practices with one another in order to improve their techniques, indications, and implant choices, in the interest of future patients.
The legal basis for the processing is your explicit consent, in accordance with the PDPL, which establishes this as the legal basis for the processing of sensitive health data.
5. How does the evaluation work?
You will receive an invitation via text message, or via email if you have not provided a phone number. Please allow about 5 minutes per questionnaire, which will be sent before and after surgery. If you do not respond, you may be contacted by phone for assistance. This evaluation is completely free of charge.
When you access the platform, you will be asked if you consent to the use of your data. If you click “No,” you will not participate in the evaluation, with no impact on the quality of your medical care. If you click “Yes,” you will participate and may withdraw your consent at any time, without justification and with no impact on your care.
6. Is your data confidential?
Yes. All collected data remains confidential. Only authorized KFSHRC staff have access to it, in strict compliance with professional confidentiality.
Your responses are aggregated with those of other patients to produce anonymized average scores. It is impossible to identify you based on these scores.
In accordance with the PDPL, the competent authorities of the Kingdom may, upon their request and in accordance with the law, receive your data. Except in this case, your data is not shared with any third party without your explicit consent.
7. How is your data protected?
The KFSHRC implements appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data against unauthorized access, disclosure, loss, or destruction. These measures include, in particular, hosting exclusively on servers located in Saudi Arabia.
The KFSHRC complies with the PDPL’s requirements regarding notification to the SDAIA in the event of a security incident affecting your data.
8. Retention and destruction of your data
Your medical data is part of your medical record. As a public institution, the KFSHRC is required to retain it in accordance with Saudi health regulations applicable to government institutions, which mandate the long-term retention of medical records for the purposes of continuity of care and legal certainty.
No transfer of your data outside the Kingdom is planned. If such a transfer were to occur, it would be subject to the Regulation on Transfers of Personal Data Outside the Kingdom (SDAIA, September 2024).
9. What are your rights?
In
accordance with the PDPL, you have the following rights at any time: to be
informed of the legal basis and purposes of the processing, to access your
data, to have it corrected if it is inaccurate, to request its erasure once the
purpose of the processing has been achieved, to restrict the processing if you
contest it, to object to it, and to withdraw your consent at any time without
prejudice to your care.
To exercise any of these rights, contact the KFSHRC by mail at KFSHRC, P.O. Box 3354, Riyadh 11211, Saudi Arabia.
If you believe your rights have not been respected, you may file a complaint with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA): www.sdaia.gov.sa.