Transforming Every Facet of the Healthcare Supply Chain
The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a cornerstone of the Saudi Vision 2030 health care initiatives, which aim to drive innovation, improve accessibility and efficiency, reduce cost, and boost outcomes for patients.
Under Vision 2030, healthcare infrastructure — including logistics and supply chains — are undergoing a digital transformation aimed at making the industry a global leader.
Embracing the IoT throughout the healthcare sector’s supply chain helps achieve Vision 2030 goals by delivering cost efficiency, improved hospital operations, streamlined logistics and enhanced patient care. Technologies like real-time monitoring, automation, and predictive intelligence, combine to offer the industry greater adaptability, traceability, and data-driven decisionmarketing in operations.
Beyond day-to-day efficiencies, using IoT to improve the healthcare supply chain supports government
initiatives to address the rise of chronic diseases and an aging population.
As a result of the Kingdom embracing IoT to drive transformation, in 2023, Saudi Arabia’s IoT healthcare
market was valued at US$387 Million and is anticipated to steadily grow through 2029 with a CAGR of 8.69%3. The Kingdom’s GDP is directly linked to the performance of its supply chain and logistics industry4. Improving performance of the industry with IoT technology will
support not only economic growth but healthcare outcomes as well.
Iot Improves Real-Time Visibility and Inventory Management
RFID tags, sensors, and GPS trackers create real-time monitoring of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and equipment.
This continuous visibility across the entire supply chain means healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia can track the movement and status of their inventories, preventing stock outs or overstocking, which can lead to waste or shortages during critical times.
With IoT-powered inventory management systems, hospitals and clinics can automatically track the consumption and availability of medical supplies. These smart systems can trigger automatic reorders when inventory falls below a predetermined threshold, ensuring that supplies are replenished without delay, reducing he need for manual intervention, and minimizing human error.
With IoT tracking and analysis technology in place, it is possible to collect and analyze consumption data on medical supplies to predict future demand. By combining realtime tracking with historical data and predictive analytics, hospitals can anticipate supply chain needs by factoring in seasonal patterns, patient demographics, and ongoing health trends in Saudi Arabia.
Hospitals can build IoTenabled forecasting models to optimize their procurement strategies, ensuring they only order what is needed, thus reducing costs and improving the efficiency of the supply chain.
IoT-powered automation makes the healthcare supply chain more scalable and responsive to both expected and unexpected changes in demand. Whether faced with a sudden increase in patient numbers or a planned increase in capacity, supply chains will be able to adjust dynamically, ensuring that supplies meet the needs of healthcare facilities.
This IoT-powered, data-driven approach reduces the risks of both shortages and overstocking for healthcare organizations11 and helps achieve the cost-efficiency targets outlined in Vision 2030.
How IoT is Transforming Healthcare Logistics
One key technology of the IoT for logistics is GPS-enabled systems, which allows for real-time tracking of delivery vehicles.
By tracking and monitoring delivery vehicles, healthcare providers and logistics partners can optimize routes for critical medicine and supplies, reduce transit times, and ensure that essential items reach their destination promptly.
In addition, GPS-enabled systems mean logistics managers can monitor the status of medical deliveries to ensure there are no issues and deliveries arrive on schedule. In cases where transit issues emerge, such as traffic problems or adverse weather conditions, managers can reroute shipments and predict estimated arrival times then update healthcare facilities. This realtime data ensures that hospitals are well-prepared to receive critical supplies when needed, avoiding unnecessary delays in patient care.
With GPS-enabled systems in place, logistics partners can then integrate these systems with other IoT-powered data warehouses between industry partners for enhanced transparency and insights.
By linking suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and hospitals through a shared IoT platform, healthcare providers in The Kingdom can ensure that everyone in the supply chain has access to highly valuable real-time data.
This collaborative approach reduces the likelihood of communication gaps, ensures accurate forecasting,
and improves the timeliness of deliveries resulting in overall improved performance of the healthcare supply chain for all partners.
IoT-driven Cold Chain Management
In logistics, IoT plays a critical role in cold chain management, particularly for temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals such as vaccines, insulin, and biologics.
There are different types of pharmaceuticals that require their own special requirements in a cold chain. For example, some types of pharmaceuticals need to be transported at sub-zero temperatures, which requires specialist handling. Other types need to maintain particular humidity levels to avoid being spoiled. IoT-enabled sensors monitor the environmental conditions — including temperature and humidity — of these products during storage and transportation.
Real-time monitoring allows healthcare providers to ensure that sensitive items are stored and delivered under optimal conditions, minimizing the risk of product spoilage.
During storage and transportation, if the temperature deviates from safe levels, IoT devices can trigger
immediate alerts, allowing corrective actions to be taken in real time. By connecting the supply chain across all steps in the storage and delivery
process via IoT technology, problems and human error can be more readily identified and quickly. This ensures regulatory compliance, reduces waste, and guarantees that medications are safe and effective for patient use upon arrival.
It also increases transparency between industry supplies and healthcare organizations and helps reduce cost inefficiencies or wasted supplies.
Healthcare providers in The Kingdom are required to adhere to stringent regulations regarding the handling and storage of pharmaceuticals. Beyond identifying issues, IoT devices generate real-time data logs that can be used to demonstrate ongoing compliance.
This traceability allows healthcare providers to quickly identify and address any deviations from accepted standards, ensuring that all medical products meet regulatory requirements before being administered to patients.
How Salehiya is Elevating Healthcare Logistics in KSA
Salehiya is a committed partner to elevating healthcare standards and revolutionizing supply chain operations with cutting-edge technologies and advanced logistics infrastructure.
Its new Regional Distribution Center (RDC) is an advanced facility that seamlessly integrates with the Kingdom’s infrastructure and brings cutting edge IoT technology to the healthcare logistics industry.
Located in Riyadh’s logistics hub, the RDC offers easy access to major highways, ensuring rapid distribution of medical supplies to all regions of Saudi Arabia. The RDC has an impressive storage capacity for pharmaceuticals and other critical healthcare supplies and equipment. With over 30,000 pallet positions, including more than 2,000 dedicated to cold chain storage for temperature-sensitive products, the RDC can provide unparalleled storage capabilities. The facilities are meticulously managed through continuous monitoring and a robust notification system, which ensures compliance with the highest standards of safety and quality.
Inside the RDC, operational excellence is paramount and every process is optimized for accuracy, speed, and safety.
Inside the RDC, operational excellence is paramount and every process is optimized for accuracy, speed, and safety. The facility ensures safety while meeting rigorous government standards. It holds key industry
accreditations and licenses that reinforce its reliability and compliance with global healthcare logistics norms.
The RDC pairs this world-class storage offering with a diverse fleet of vehicles that provides efficient lastmile delivery to ensure life-saving medical supplies and equipment reach healthcare providers on time. The fleet is monitored and optimized by a centralized control room, where advanced security systems and realtime tracking safeguard the integrity of the inventory and the supply chain.
The leading cold chain offering is not just confined to RDC’s warehouse—Salehiya tracks the temperatures of trucks and other cold rooms across the Kingdom, offering a seamless end-toend supply chain experience.
Salehiya’s RDC is more than a logistics center—it is a vital link in the healthcare chain, where innovation, security, and a commitment to service converge to enhance the quality of care across Saudi Arabia.
