Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General praised the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz AL Rabeeah and the Ministry staff for issuing the statistical yearbook 1430 that includes statistics about health situation in the Kingdom. He mentioned in his telegram his gratitude to the Ministry staff for their efforts in enhancing the health status in the Kingdom, and he wished them the best in providing the health services in all specialties.
Dr. Rabeeah thanked His Highness for his generous support to the health sector. He clarified that the book reveals the most significant general health indicators, the improvement of health resources and services provided by the Ministry and other health sectors, in addition to the health services level in the Kingdom, which have improved greatly during the last couple of years 1428 – 1430.
Moreover, it was mentioned in the statistical yearbook that the Kingdom's regions and provinces have witnessed in 2009 a decrease in diseases targeted by immunization due to the increase in the coverage of several basic vaccinations. The cases of spinal meningitis in 2009 has decreased to 2.02 per 100.000 persons, diphtheria cases decreased to 0.004 per 100.000 persons, pertussis decreased to 0.1, neonatal tetanus decreased to 0.02, measles decreased to 0.05, german measles decreased to 0.05, Hepatitis(B) decreased to 19.78 per 100.000 persons.
In addition, the book also mentioned the increased numbers of hospitals reaching 244 hospitals instead of 225 hospitals with a growth rate of 8.4% during this period, beds also increased from 31420 beds to 33277 beds with a growth rate of 5.9%. While beds of other health sectors in the Kingdom increased from 53519 beds to 55932 beds with a growth rate of 4.5%, in addition to the healthcare centers which increased from 1925 center to 2037 center with a growth rate of 5.8%.
Moreover, the book includes the number of health sector workforce in terms of doctors, pharmacists, nurses and supporting medical staff in the Ministry of Health which has increased during the same period from 101789 persons to 123143 persons with a growth rate of 21% as follows: number of doctors increased from 22643 doctors to 25832 doctors with a growth rate of 14.1%, number of pharmacists increased from 1301 pharmacists to 1654 pharmacists with a growth rate of 27.1%, number of nurses increased from 51188 nurses to 63297 nurses with a growth rate of 23.7%, and the number of supporting medical staff increased from 26657 technicians to 32360 technicians with a growth rate of 21.4%. In addition, total number of Saudi employees in the Ministry increased from 48266 persons to 66745 persons with a growth rate of 38.3%.