The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) and Masimo (NASDAQ:MASI) on Monday jointly announced the launch of an automation solution designed to streamline the process of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening of newborns using Masimo SET at Arab Health 2019.

According to the company, the automation solution is designed to streamline the process of critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening of newborns using the first automation of its kind worldwide, the Masimo SET. This latest phase in Saudi Arabia's national CCHD screening programme automates the collection and storage of screening data, helping to make the process more efficient and accurate.

In conjunction, the automation of Neonatal Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) screening across more than 370 healthcare facilities in Saudi Arabia is expected to improve the process of screening more than 550,000 newborns annually by 2020.

Masimo SET, coupled with Eve to streamline the screening process and now with Rad-97 and automated data collection and aggregation, provides a powerful and the only automated CCHD solution of its kind available worldwide. Last year alone 72 newborns were referred for CHD diagnosis and heart surgery to save their lives.

CCHD affects newborns and requires intervention soon after birth to prevent morbidity or mortality; later detection in infants increases the risk of brain damage. In a study of 39,821 infants, CCHD screening sensitivity increased from 63% with physical exam alone to 83% with physical exam and Masimo SET pulse oximetry.