The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has showcased a smart program, which ensures perfuming successful shoulder replacement surgery using artificial intelligence during the Arab Health 2020, taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre.

The smart program dubbed “Blueprint” helps surgeons take the right decisions when carrying out shoulder replacement surgery.

Blueprint processes the patient’s data after an accurate CT scan of the shoulder and provides the surgeon with a complete visualization and planning of surgery, through three-dimensional glasses powered with virtual reality technology. The program gives the doctor the ability to perform accurate surgery and delivers a report following the surgery on the performance of the shoulder.

Provide high-quality treatment services

HE Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Policy and Licensing Sector in the Ministry, said that the VR-powered program comes in line with the ‘UAE Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI), the first of its kind in the world, through which the country seeks to achieve the goals of the UAE Centennial Plan 2071 and accelerate the implementation of future-oriented development programs and projects, using artificial intelligence and data analysis.

For his part, H.E. Dr. Yousif Mohammed Al-Serkal, Assistant Undersecretary for the Hospitals Sector in the Ministry, stressed the importance of using VR and AI technologies in performing surgical operations to provide high-quality healthcare services and keep pace with the latest global developments.

The Ministry of Health has been proactive in employing the modern technical programs in the field of surgical operations, given the extreme accuracy that virtual reality gives when performing surgical operations, thus reducing medical errors and enhancing the success rates of operations, added Al-Serkal.

Improving the quality of treatment services

Meanwhile, Dr. Kalthoom Al Balushi, Director of the Ministry’s Hospitals Sector, said that this innovative technology will improve the quality of treatment methods and allows surgeons to perform surgeries according to data and instructions provided by the program. Using Blueprint comes in line with the ministry’s endeavors to bring about a transformation in the field of treatment services using artificial intelligence, Al Balushi added.

She noted that the process of replacing the shoulder joint is complex where doctors finds it difficult to determine the sensitive part of the shoulder bones so as to fix the new joint, which results in unsatisfactory results including the patient’s inability to move his/her arm in full, or the affected shoulder is lower than the other hand. This is why “Blueprint” is very useful. It does help take the right decision without human interventions with success rate of up to 100%.