Discussion

SEERS wins approval to pilot AI heart-rhythm screening in Abu Dhabi

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A pilot of AI-based heart-rhythm screening has received ethics approval in Abu Dhabi, opening the way for tests with about 100 people. If the trial succeeds, SEERS hopes to join the UAE’s national health-screening programme in 2027, but this is a proposed expansion, not evidence that the service is already proven for nationwide use.

Watch Desk analysis

What happened

Korea Biomedical Review reports that an institutional review board under Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health approved the project with SEHA Clinics, the UAE’s largest public healthcare network. The pilot will assess the clinical effectiveness and operational feasibility of SEERS’ mobiCARE AI electrocardiogram service during health screenings.

The report says the UAE’s annual screening programme for citizens aged 40 and over does not currently include arrhythmia screening. SEERS was selected as the sole provider through a tender late last year. The company aims to complete the pilot by the end of 2026 and introduce its service to the national programme in 2027, subject to a successful outcome. If adopted nationwide, the service could reach about 280,000 people annually.

Why it matters

The project would take AI heart screening beyond supplying medical devices and into a national screening pathway. Its immediate test is modest: around 100 participants, with clinical effectiveness and operational feasibility still to be assessed. The scale of any later rollout depends on what those results show and whether the programme adopts the service.

Our read

This is a meaningful real-world trial, not a verdict on AI’s ability to catch arrhythmias. The useful next question is what the pilot measures and how its results compare with existing screening and follow-up practices. In medicine, a confident-looking ECG result is the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it.

What to watch

  • Whether the pilot finishes by the end of 2026 and what results are reported.
  • Whether the UAE adds the service to its national programme in 2027.
  • How the screening result leads to clinical review and follow-up.

Discussion spark: What evidence should a pilot like this need to show before AI heart-rhythm screening is added to a national programme?

Sources and evidence

Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.

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