RIYADH: The Saudi Ministry of Health, represented by Seha Virtual Hospital and the Innovation Empowerment Center, on Wednesday signed a joint cooperation agreement with information technology company Alphaiota to develop work in artificial intelligence and data analysis. Deputy CEO of Seha Khaled bin Hussein Al-Qamash and Alphaiota CEO Thamir bin Saleh Al-Ballaa signed the agreement. Seha Virtual Hospital and the Innovation Empowerment Center recently launched a safe environment platform for health innovations that will encourage individual and corporate innovators to provide solutions in digital health and AI. The platform will offer innovators an experimental environment in partnership with relevant sectors. Seha Virtual Hospital was launched in February this year as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to digitize its healthcare sector, which forms part of the nation’s Vision 2030 program.  Connected to 152 hospitals and covering more than 34 subspecialties throughout Saudi Arabia, Seha Virtual Hospital claims to be the largest of its kind in the world and the first in the Middle East and North Africa region.  Patients no longer need to travel to different parts of the Kingdom to be seen by specialized physicians, and are not limited to regular clinic hours.