His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, has extended his deepest, loftiest and most sincere greetings and congratulations to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, May Allah protect them, as well as the Saudi people, on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, and the success of the Hajj season, thank goodness, as pilgrims enjoy health and safety, and the Hajj is declared to be free from epidemic and endemic diseases.
The Minister was quoted as saying, “Such a sparkling achievement would not have been possible without the help and guidance of Allah in the first place, and then the endless and limitless support of the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in addition to the colossal efforts exerted by the sincere and dedicated sons of the Kingdom of Humanitarianism.” Then he prayed for Allah to recompense them for the unparalleled services provided for the 'guests of Allah'.
During the Eid Greeting Ceremony held by the Ministry on Saturday at the MOH Headquarters, Dr. Al-Rabeeah outlined the most important healthcare services provided by the Kingdom for pilgrims, and the most significant achievements accomplished during the Hajj season of this year (till the end of yesterday). He pointed out that the Ministry has provided high-quality specialized services, as evidently manifested in this statistics: the surgeries performed for pilgrims on the course of the past few days include 538 cardiac catheterization operations and 25 open-heart operations, as well as 3500 in-place treatment cases, 1130 dialysis sessions and 196 interventional endoscopy cases.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah went on to say that the Ministry has run medical convoys from the hospitals of Jeddah, Madinah, Makkah, and the Holy Places with the aim to transmit more than 415 inpatients to Arafat. In addition, the Ministry has equipped 24 hospitals and 141 health centers, with a total capacity of 4000 beds, 450 intensive care beds and 500 emergency beds. He added that a number of 365.777 pilgrims have been vaccinated against meningitis, 532.400 pilgrims have been given the polio oral vaccine, and 200.000 pilgrims have been vaccinated against yellow fever. So far, a number of 510.111 pilgrims have resorted to health centers, whereas the number of those who headed for the emergency clinics at hospitals is 35.610 pilgrims. This was substantially reflected in the mortality rate amongst pilgrims, as it has declined by 30 per cent in comparison with last year.
It followed that Dr. Al-Rabeeah shed light on the health services provided at the national scale over the present year. He said that the Ministry of Health, thanks to the gracious support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, May Allah protect them, managed to achieve several successes, most notably the expansion of the capacity of the Visiting Doctor Program, as the number of doctors involved in it has leapt to 1.200 doctors, whereas the number of Patient Relations staff has reached 1.000 employees, all enlisted for patients' service. Besides, the Home Medicine programs have served over 10.000 patients on the course of the past year, through 180 medical teams in 115 hospitals.
His Excellency the Minister of Health further added that the Day Surgery Program works in full swing; 100% of the MOH hospitals (with a capacity of more than 100 beds each) have been included in this program, performing over 55.000 surgical operations since the outset of the program at the opening of this year. He also revealed that the Ministry has developed a bed screening application, with the aim to best utilize beds, with the effect that the turnover rate has risen to 6 periods per year.
With regard to the Planning and Administrative Affairs Programs, Dr. Al-Rabeeah said that the workflow of administrative and financial affairs has been greatly developed in cooperation with a team from King Saud University, along with Diolette Co., which is one of the Big Four accountancy firms. In addition the Ministry is working on introducing the Electronic Administrative Communication system to all its departments, thereby controlling the information electronically. Also, the Control and Internal Audit Department has been supported with 90 new employees, pointing out that, over the next year, all the MOH personnel files in all regions (doctors, nurses, technicians and administrative staff) will be updated and renovated, under a program dubbed "Manpower Review".
According to Dr. Al-Rabeeah, the new organizational structure of directorates, hospitals and health centers has been already completed. The Ministry's institutional work, he added, is continuously and increasingly developing. In this spirit, the MOH Executive Board (with its five subsidiary committees), and the executive boards of the different directorates (with their five subsidiary committees), as well as the recruitment committees and promotion committee, etc., carry out the tasks assigned to them to the full. Also, the Ministry is planning to establish a center for information and studies, in addition to sending out medical consultants to many of the Kingdom's remote areas, as part of the "Outreach Program".
Dr. Al-Rabeeah continued, saying: the Medical Staff Bylaws, prepared and approved by the MOH Executive Board, are expected to be issued sometime in the next three months. He also pointed out that 10 MOH hospitals have been validated by the US Hospital Authority during this year. In the meantime, the Ministry is working on the measurement methods and performance monitoring, as well as the Sentinel Events Monitoring Program and the Clinical Audit program. It is an integrated system of procedures that helps drives medical performance towards perfection, by means of 49 key performance indicators (KPI), under seven performance categories, with the aim to monitor hospital performance, in addition to other quality programs, such as the Medication Safety Program and the Risk Management Program.
Projects aimed to improve performance at operating and emergency rooms have been carried out in 16 hospitals so far, Dr. Al-Rabeeah continued. He made clear that the Ministry would continue to implement such projects in all its facilities, in addition to improving and renovating the medical files relating to the infrastructure, staff, medical forms, etc. Also, the international medical cod (ICD10) has been introduced in 30 MOH hospitals.
As far as the early detection of diseases is concerned, the Minister pointed out that the Ministry has adopted the Breast Cancer Early Detection Program, introduced the Digital Radiology Program in many of its hospitals, and developed a program for improving the intensive care unit of newly born infants.
No doubt the private sector is a strategic partner, Al-Rabeeah emphasized, and further expounded that it will be included in Ministry's Sentinel Events Monitoring Program.
On the achievements accomplished in the domain of medical supply and equipment, Dr. Al-Rabeeah revealed that the Ministry has already finished work on the Medical Equipment Directory in hospitals with a capacity of 200, 300 and 500 beds, with a view to accelerating the work pace. Also, the Ministry's Medicine Directory is already done, and will be distributed to all who are concerned. Besides, a new section for occupational safety has been established, for the purpose of following up building safety and fire-fighting.
Then, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah moved on to the MOH programs as regards manpower training. He said that over 80.000 MOH employees (doctors, nurses, technicians and administrative staff) have been trained during the last year, and wished the number to increase this year. He also mentioned that over 1.300 employees have received scholarships abroad, whereas over 1.200 employees have received scholarships inside the Kingdom. Meanwhile, he affirmed that the Ministry would continue to offer training opportunities for the directors of hospitals.
In the area of international cooperation, the minister spoke of the collective agreements that were signed earlier in this year with Department of Public Health and Policy at the University of Liverpool, UK, Michigan College of Medicine, USA, and Emory University in USA.
Concerning the information technology programs, the Minister of Health Dr. Al-Rabeeah said, the ministry has carried out a scientific strategic plan for information technology, including providing individual E-mail for each employee in the Ministry in order to facilitate direct communication with him, updating the website of the Ministry to be comprehensive and interactive and to provide services to staff and others, conducting many of the transactions electronically such as applying for jobs and following-up transactions, and applying Newborn Infant Protection Program in many government hospitals.
Al-Rabeeah added, the Ministry has already completed full architectural designs for hospitals in accordance with the U.S. Code, noting that a hospital architectural guide has been provided according to the approved standards of safety.
The establishment of the MOH Central Laboratory, based in north Riyadh, will be accomplished during the next year, and it will be in the future the only laboratory in the Middle East which is equipped on the fourth level, he added.
Dr. Al-Rabiah said, the Ministry has allocated 500 million riyals for the establishment of intensive care units in the KSA regions, with the support of the Wise Leadership.
At the end of his speech, the Ministry of Health Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah stressed that the Ministry has currently implemented and offered 195 health facilities, including medical cities and towers, general and specialized hospitals and specialized centers, and renovating the infrastructure of some old hospitals, in addition to 1414 projects to establish primary healthcare centers, pointing out that the Ministry has received and operated more than 800 primary healthcare centers.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah went on to say that the Ministry will be receiving 33 hospitals during the next two years, including but not limited to East Riyadh Hospital (500 beds), North Jeddah Hospital (500 beds), Makkah Maternity and Children Hospital (500 beds), South Riyadh Hospital (200 beds), Beljarshy Hospital (500 beds), Prince Mohammed bin Nasser at Jazan (200 beds), Hafr Al-Batin Maternity and Children Hospital (300 beds), King Fahad Specialist Hospital in Tabuk (500 beds), and Abha Maternity and Children Hospital (200 beds).