Introduction:
The state guarantees the rights of citizens and their families to obtain its services in cases of emergencies, illnesses, disabilities, and old age. It supports the
Social Security Law and encourages institutions and individuals to contribute to charitable work. Considering that people with disabilities are covered by the provisions of this article, the state has taken it upon itself to protect and reinforce their rights. It has sought to improve their well-being and create a decent life for them and their families.
The
Disability Code ensures the
rights of People with disabilities and reinforcing them. The Kingdom also became a party within the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Special Needs and its Optional Protocol in 2008, which is one of the main United Nations human rights conventions.
Saudi Healthcare Law:
The
Healthcare Law in the Kingdom (Available only in Arabic) can be classified as a national law to provide free healthcare services to citizens through several government agencies. Currently, the growing role and increasing participation of the private sector in providing health care services is greatly evident. MOH is primarily responsible for supervising health care services and hospitals in the public and private sectors, as well as providing the Comprehensive Health Insurance Law.
Kingdom's laws to protect the rights of people with special needs:
The Kingdom has given great attention to the rights of people with special needs, according to an Islamic reference that encourages giving humans the ultimate care. In fact, its greatest goal is preserving and protecting the legitimate rights of all people, especially people with special needs.
The Kingdom ratified and signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Special Needs on 4/6/2008. Article 27 of the agreement stipulated the work and employment law for people with disabilities as human rights guaranteed by the Kingdom, in accordance with the Islamic Sharia.
People with special needs: People suffering from a complete or partial stable deficiency in physical, sensory, mental, communicative, educational, or psychological abilities, to the extent that it reduces their ability to meet their own normal needs in the same conditions others without disabilities are in.
Disability: A person can have several disabilities, as follows: visual impairment, hearing impairment, mental disability, physical and motor impairment, learning difficulties, speech disorders, behavioral and emotional disorders, double and multiple disabilities, autism, and other disabilities that require special care.
Prevention: A set of medical, psychological, social, educational, informational and systemic procedures aimed at preventing or reducing disabilities and their early detection, in addition to minimizing their consequences.
Care: It includes comprehensive care services that are provided to every disabled person in need of care by virtue of their health condition and degree of disability, or due to their social status.
Rehabilitation (Available only in Arabic): A coordinated process of recruiting medical, social, psychological, educational, and professional services to help disabled people achieve the maximum degree possible of functional effectiveness. This aims to enable people with disabilities to comply with the requirements of their natural and social environments. It also develops their abilities to depend on themselves and become a productive members of society whenever possible.
The state guarantees the rights of disabled people in terms of prevention, care, and rehabilitation services. Moreover, institutions and individuals are encouraged to contribute to charitable work in the field of disability. These services are provided to this segment of citizens through the concerned authorities.
MOH efforts to provide care to people with special needs:
MOH works to provide health services for people with special needs in all fields to help develop their capabilities and enhance their natural integration in various aspects of public life, with the aim of reducing the negative effects of disability. The state guarantees the rights of the disabled with regard to prevention, care and rehabilitation services, and encourages institutions and individuals to contribute to charitable work in the field of disability. In addition,
MOH offers various services to people with special needs (Available only in Arabic). They include:
- Preventive, curative and rehabilitative services, including preventive genetic counseling, various laboratory tests and analyzes for early detection of diseases, and necessary vaccinations.
- Registering children born at a higher risk of developing a disability, conducting follow-ups on their cases, and reporting this information to competent authorities.
- Working to improve health care for disabled individuals, and taking the necessary measures to make this happen.
- Training healthcare workers, as well as those involved in accidents, on dealing with injured individuals who have disabilities and transporting them from the locations of accidents.
- Training the families of the disabled on how to care for and look after them.
- MOH provides free health care programs for people with disabilities in government health institutions, as stipulated in Paragraph (3) of Article (4) of the Healthcare Law.
- Universities participate in providing excellent health services through teaching hospitals affiliated to the Colleges of Medicine. The capacity of a single hospital in some universities can be 800 beds. Universities also establish research chairs to conducting disability research and social studies.
Mandatory Health Insurance:
The Kingdom is working to increase regulatory supervision regarding introducing Unified Mandatory Health Insurance in the Kingdom. The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance has announced new measures aimed at increasing supervision over private sector companies. Projections indicate that the total number of people benefiting from Mandatory Health Insurance will increase in 2019 and throughout the coming years.