Saudi Ministry of Health and Amplifai Health Pilot AI Thermal Foot Scan for Diabetic Foot Screening

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health and Amplifai Health are piloting Thermal Foot Scan, an AI-assisted screening tool for diabetic foot complications, the World Economic Forum reported in January 2026 when it named the pair among the second cohort of its MINDS (Meaningful, Intelligent, Novel, Deployable Solutions) programme. The system uses computer vision and large language models to interpret thermal patterns of a patient's feet and generate a clinical risk score in under a minute. Because the analysis is automated, nurses can carry out the screenings themselves, which addresses a shortage of podiatrists: specialists can focus on the high-risk cases the scan flags rather than screening every patient. According to the Forum, this lets the programme increase screening capacity by up to 12 times without adding specialist headcount, and early results show nearly 80% lower treatment costs. The Forum presents the pilot as a move from reactive care to scalable, preventive screening that supports Saudi Arabia's goal of equitable, technology-enabled healthcare, including in remote and resource-constrained settings. The MINDS programme selects organisations that embed AI in real-world systems with measurable results. Its first cohort of 18 organisations from 23 countries was unveiled at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2025 in Hangzhou, China, and the second cohort adds 15 more cases. The figures above are early pilot results reported by the Forum rather than an independent evaluation.