TOKYO, Sept. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthcare must be recognized as the world’s most strategic investment in security, prosperity, and resilience—not as a financial burden—declared H.E. Dr. Majid Alfayyadh, Adviser at the Saudi Royal Court and Chief Executive Officer of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSHRC), in his keynote at the C3 Davos of Healthcare™ Summit in Tokyo.

Dr. Alfayyadh stressed that investing in healthcare systems translates directly into lives saved, stronger economies, job creation, and greater global competitiveness, while enabling countries to withstand future crises, including pandemics, climate-related health emergencies, and natural disasters.

He highlighted the global convergence of health challenges—rising chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions; climate change accelerating the spread of vector-borne illnesses; widening inequities across low- and middle-income countries; and the vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19—as urgent reasons for nations to rethink healthcare as an investment in their collective security.

Five domains of investment, he argued, are critical to building sustainable healthcare systems worldwide: modern hospital infrastructure including emergency and intensive care capacity; digital health and AI-driven platforms; advanced laboratories and precision medicine; workforce development that integrates emerging roles like data scientists; and resilient pharmaceutical and supply chain networks with localized vaccine and drug production.

Placing this within a historical context, Dr. Alfayyadh noted that no breakthrough in medicine—from vaccines to surgery—succeeded without strong delivery systems and organized infrastructure, and the same principle must guide today’s innovations in robotics, biotechnology, and genomics.

Saudi Arabia, he explained, is embedding these principles within its Vision 2030 Health Sector Transformation Program, reframing healthcare from a public expense to a driver of innovation and economic diversification. KFSHRC, founded over 50 years ago to reduce reliance on treatment abroad, now anchors this transformation with milestones such as the world’s first fully robotic heart transplant, pioneering CAR T-cell therapy, and advanced genomic research, while expanding into gene and cell therapy, regenerative medicine, and sustainable models of care.

Underscoring the role of international collaboration, Dr. Alfayyadh invited Japanese stakeholders and global partners to join Saudi Arabia in co-developing research, sharing technologies, and shaping the future of integrated healthcare. The summit served as a platform to reaffirm the Kingdom’s openness to investment and partnerships that accelerate innovation for the benefit of humanity.

Closing his remarks, he stated: “The future of healthcare will be defined by integration, modernization, and collaboration. By redefining healthcare as an investment, we are building not only resilient national systems, but also a stronger and healthier global community.”

It is noteworthy that KFSHRC has been ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa and 15th globally in the list of the world’s top 250 Academic Medical Centres for the second consecutive year and has been recognised as the most valuable healthcare brand in the Kingdom and the Middle East, according to the 2025 Brand Finance rankings. Additionally, it was included in the World’s Best Smart Hospitals list for 2025 by Newsweek magazine.

For more information, visit www.kfshrc.edu.sa or contact our media team at mediacoverage@kfshrc.edu.sa

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0a6a7854-e97b-4432-8f77-0285c0df003a