International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has recently published the international standard on safety controls for cupping devices "hijamah tools" (ISO 5227). This is the first international standard developed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a national standard to be an international standard as per ISO regulations.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), led the draft project to prepare the standard through its specialists in the field as part of the international technical committee on traditional medicine (ISO/TC 249). The project started in April 2019 and went through several stages of “new international draft”, “committee draft,” “initial draft for an international standard,” and then “final draft for an international standard,” supported by the approval of the majority of countries at the committee, before publishing the standard as an accredited standard on ISO website.

The standard includes standard definitions for each of cupping devices, dry cupping, and wet cupping, and contains requirements for safety controls before using cupping devices, which are adherence to standard specifications for manufacturing and design, restrictions on frequency of use, sterilization and disinfection, virtual testing, in addition to inspecting packaging, identification information and leaflets.

The standard also includes the requirements for safety controls after the use of cupping devices, which are the disposal of the tools used in the wet cupping procedure, and the cleaning and disinfection of the tools used in the dry cupping procedure.

This is part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s successes and contributions in the field of organizing and monitoring medical devices and supplies at the international level.