Executive Affairs Deputy Minister, Dr. Mansour Al Hawasi, spoke recently at the launch for the (150-350-bed) Hospitals Directors' Skills Development Training Program, which was organized by the General Department for Hospitals in cooperation with the General Directorate for Training and Scholarship. During his opening remarks, Dr. Al Hawasi stressed that MOH is comprehensively developing all of its sectors to enhance the overall quality of health services in the Kingdom. The event was held on Saturday 19/2/2011 at the Tulip Inn Riyadh, with the participation of 29 directors from 13 health sectors.
Dr. Hawasi also added that the MOH’s primary reliance upon training to improve staff skills and experience will eventually result in improving the overall quality of health services available to the public.
The Assistant Undersecretary for Curative Medicine, Dr. Aqeel Al Ghamdi, also spoke at the event, and assured attendees that the MOH is doing its best to provide exemplary services to all citizens. The Ministry is constantly improving the quality of services provided in all hospitals, general healthcare centers, specialized centers and research and education centers. He added his hopes that, since improving the quality of health services is mainly linked to training, this course will result in an improvement in the overall state of the public health.
The Director General for Hospitals, Dr. Abdul Aziz Hamed Al-Ghamdi, contributed his remarks to the audience, saying that this program would be included within the larger framework of the MOH’s efforts to improve hospital performance. He then introduced a comprehensive plan to develop the performance of hospital directors. This plan aims to provide directors with the basic hospital management skills needed to run their facilities. These basics include: the main principles of quality healthcare, strategic planning concepts, elements and obstacles, changing management, performance evaluation methods and management’s role in the hospital accreditation process. Dr. Al-Ghamdi added that the program will lalso provide training in problem-solving, decision-making, communication, medical consultation and effective team leadership.
Dr. Al-Ghamdi clarified that workshops will be organized with MOH General Department managers and leaders to identify each department's tasks and to target problems to be solved. Eight training courses will be offered to improve the efficiency of hospital directors, along with five courses to improve the performance of medical directors for (100-400 beds) hospitals.
Twenty-nine directors from 13 healthcare regions will participate in this course. They will be trained by a distinguished group of professionals specialized in hospital management and human development. In addition, a number of MOH general directors will attend the workshops to provide information and direction and to answer questions.