Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia

The survey of data protection legislations in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia shows a heightened protection of healthcare data. Additional legal requirements apply for the lawful processing of healthcare data. The processing of healthcare data in Qatar and Oman necessitates, for instance, prior admini...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Moufid El-Khoury, Saleh Albarashdi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002207
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850209018734182400
author Moufid El-Khoury
Saleh Albarashdi
author_facet Moufid El-Khoury
Saleh Albarashdi
author_sort Moufid El-Khoury
collection DOAJ
description The survey of data protection legislations in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia shows a heightened protection of healthcare data. Additional legal requirements apply for the lawful processing of healthcare data. The processing of healthcare data in Qatar and Oman necessitates, for instance, prior administrative authorization. When strong burdens are imposed on data controllers, a significant risk resides in the circumvention of the legal requirements altogether. In practice, the strong legal compliance regime imposed on the processing of healthcare data in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia might lead to further investments in new data-sharing methods that would seek the anonymity of healthcare data. Contrary to the policy of some countries that opted for strict data localization rules, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia established a principle of free international data transfer, which is constrained by some legal conditions and exceptions. While robust privacy frameworks exist in the surveyed jurisdictions, the role of the Omani, Qatari, and Saudi supervisory authorities will be crucial to ensure effective safeguarding of healthcare data. The effective enforcement of personal data protection laws is also contingent upon careful management of public-private partnerships that involve the sharing of sensitive data with both national and foreign private technology companies.
format Article
id doaj-art-5c5ef65d67c248698c6ff0d5c69dc3d7
institution OA Journals
issn 2590-2911
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Social Sciences and Humanities Open
spelling doaj-art-5c5ef65d67c248698c6ff0d5c69dc3d72025-08-20T02:10:07ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112025-01-011110149210.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101492Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi ArabiaMoufid El-Khoury0Saleh Albarashdi1Corresponding author.; College of Law, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, OmanCollege of Law, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, OmanThe survey of data protection legislations in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia shows a heightened protection of healthcare data. Additional legal requirements apply for the lawful processing of healthcare data. The processing of healthcare data in Qatar and Oman necessitates, for instance, prior administrative authorization. When strong burdens are imposed on data controllers, a significant risk resides in the circumvention of the legal requirements altogether. In practice, the strong legal compliance regime imposed on the processing of healthcare data in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia might lead to further investments in new data-sharing methods that would seek the anonymity of healthcare data. Contrary to the policy of some countries that opted for strict data localization rules, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia established a principle of free international data transfer, which is constrained by some legal conditions and exceptions. While robust privacy frameworks exist in the surveyed jurisdictions, the role of the Omani, Qatari, and Saudi supervisory authorities will be crucial to ensure effective safeguarding of healthcare data. The effective enforcement of personal data protection laws is also contingent upon careful management of public-private partnerships that involve the sharing of sensitive data with both national and foreign private technology companies.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002207Healthcare dataPrivacyLawful processingAI ethicsTrustworthy AIMiddle east
spellingShingle Moufid El-Khoury
Saleh Albarashdi
Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Healthcare data
Privacy
Lawful processing
AI ethics
Trustworthy AI
Middle east
title Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
title_full Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
title_short Navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare-driven AI in the Middle East: Case studies from Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia
title_sort navigating the privacy landscape of healthcare driven ai in the middle east case studies from oman qatar and saudi arabia
topic Healthcare data
Privacy
Lawful processing
AI ethics
Trustworthy AI
Middle east
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125002207
work_keys_str_mv AT moufidelkhoury navigatingtheprivacylandscapeofhealthcaredrivenaiinthemiddleeastcasestudiesfromomanqatarandsaudiarabia
AT salehalbarashdi navigatingtheprivacylandscapeofhealthcaredrivenaiinthemiddleeastcasestudiesfromomanqatarandsaudiarabia