As part of the Saudi Vision 2030, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has launched a strategic plan for the health sector. The plan focuses on three basic elements to be enhanced. The first two elements are concern for the health of citizens, and improvement of their quality of life. The third element highlights the enhancement of the quality of services provided.
In other words, attention will be paid to quality services that provide added value to the health sector by containing and reducing costs for citizens, and directing more investments towards the health sector. MOH has also identified a set of indicators to measure development in the health sector, such as the number of health care employees, the rate of infant mortality, and the average life expectancy of citizens.
It is worth mentioning that MOH has regarded the transformation program in the health sector as a long road map aimed at improving the quality of health care in Saudi Arabia to meet aspirations. Thanks to the efforts of MOH employees, including doctors, health practitioners, and administrators, this has become easier, more successful and more feasible. This is because MOH has endeavored to ensure the provision of integrated comprehensive health care for the entire population fairly and accessibly.
This has proven of benefit to all society groups, including mothers, children, the elderly, the disabled, youth, psychiatric patients, etc. Additionally, MOH has provided an integrated network of health care services covering all regions of the Kingdom. It has also identified the needs, locations and levels of such care according to the geographical and demographic situation and the patterns of diseases prevailing in the region. In public health facilities, health care is provided to citizens free of charge and according to the health care system.
Within the same framework, MOH has expanded the scope of its services to include remote audio-visual medical consultations. This has allowed all citizens to obtain medical advice directly from their doctors all over the Kingdom. Moreover, this aims to increase the number of beneficiaries of such application, in order to invest modern technologies in providing medical services to citizens, and to give them the opportunity to obtain medical consultations from specialists.
Thanks to the efforts of its employees, MOH has fulfilled great and qualitative achievements. As a result, life expectancy in the Kingdom has exceeded the global average (70 years), reaching 74 years. In addition, infant mortality rates have dropped by 96%, while vaccination rates have increased by 137% over the past 35 years.
