The Minister of Health ,Dr.Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz AL Rabeeah stated that Quality and Accreditation Programs, patient safety are The Ministry's main aim due to its believe in the importance of achieving excellence in this field, and to follow the government's directions to reach the satisfaction and security of citizens.
At Cabinet Office this morning while hosting. The Ministry of Health celebration to honor 21 hospitals that got the accreditation certificate from the Central Board of Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI), and from the Joint Commission International (JCI), Dr. AL Rabeeah stressed that the health sector in the kingdom has the largest share of care. The directions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, his Crown Prince and Second Deputy assured taking care of citizens' health and prioritizing quality and accreditation programs through the implementation of the modern scientific objective, which meets the advanced global requirements to get the accreditation. In addition, the relentless pursuit of meeting, the standards of the international health organizations and bodies to achieve high quality health services.
Dr. AL Rabeeah added that this achievement is considered a starting point for more success in all of The Ministry's divisions to serve the citizens and residents in the health aspect.
He clarified that achieving the quality concept and fulfilling the required accreditation standards is every body's responsibility, which we all must commit to in all levels. Due to that he encouraged people to work hard to reach these goals to have a safe and high quality health care in The Ministry's facilities to meet our government's vision and the beneficiaries expectations, following the slogan "patients first" .
Dr. AL Rabeeah pointed out that The Ministry has adopted a number of principles and objectives due to its believe in the necessity of improving health care services. The most important goals are quality, evaluation, revision, transparency and more.
The Ministry has currently adopted step by step plans to evaluate its facilities performance through the Central Board of Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions and the American and Canadian and other Healthcare Institutions Accreditation Commissions in order to achieve the accreditation of all of its facilities. Although getting the accreditation is not our ultimate goal but a starting point to a great effort to keep the achieved standards and work on developing them. In addition, he added that the assessment and accreditation will continue to cover other health sectors including the private health sector subject to the Health Services Council.
Dr. AL Rabeeah revealed that 9 hospitals of the CBAHI accredited hospitals have already been chosen to be subjected to the foreign evaluation by the American Healthcare Institutions Accreditation Commission to emphasis the importance of the goal and to compare the evaluation. He also thanked all who participated in this achievement and CBAHI officials.
The General Director of Hera Hospital,Dr. Waleed bin Abdulhalim Mohamed Hussain, said in the honored speech that quality has swept hospitals, where it's no longer limited on doctors ,explaining procedures to the patients and get their approval. However, it includes the security officers and the receptionists where they make people aware of there rights as patients before being hospitalized. He added that getting the accreditation from the CBAHI and passing the evaluation process is the first step in improving the performance, and that coming generations will benefit from this development.
The General Director of Asir Province Health Affairs, Dr.Abdullah AL Wad'ai mentioned that CBAHI has set comprehensive and unified quality standards that have been implemented on governmental hospitals for the first time in The Ministry's history. He added that The Central Board has opened 13 sub-councils all over The Kingdom in order to train hospitals to implement these standards, which was beneficial throughout the last 3 years with the support of The Minister, The Central Board and the efforts of the specialized administrations in The Cabinet Office and health affairs officials.