The Supervisor-General of the MOH Home Healthcare Program, Dr. Nasser Al-Huzaim, has announced that the culminative number of patients benefitting from the services of this program has mounted to 15.329 patients by the end of the first quarter of the current year (1433H). Home healthcare is provided throughout the Kingdom's regions and provinces in the form of curative, preventive, rehabilitative, social and educational services. About 31 per cent of these patients suffer from chronic diseases (such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac diseases and their complications). Ranking first among the diseases covered by the Home Healthcare services, this group is followed by aging diseases, making up 18 per cent, and then strikes, and the central and peripheral nervous system problems (14 per cent), then clinical lesions and diabetic foot (11 per cent), then mental and psychiatric diseases (10 per cent), then chronic respiratory diseases (5 per cent) and urinary tract diseases (5 per cent), and then comes cancers and serious diseases at the bottom of the list, making up 2 per cent of the total cases covered by the Home Healthcare Program.
Dr. Al-Huzaim was quoted as saying, “The Home Healthcare Program has accomplished significant achievements since its launch in the second half of 1430H. To date the number of hospitals adopting this program is 138 hospitals, and the number of field medical teams is 216 teams, and the total numbers of workers for this program is 940 workers.”
He went on to explain that Riyad Region ranked first in terms of the number of beneficiaries of the program (12 per cent), followed by Assir Region (11 per cent), followed by Madinah Region (10 per cent), followed by Makkah Region (9 per cent), and then come the remaining regions at varying proportions in accordance with population density and number of hospitals and beds in each region.
“It goes without saying that the directives given by His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, have been always our motivation towards the implementation of this program,” Al-Huzaim continued. “Guided by national and international experiences, Dr. Al-Rabeeah has been keen to put this program into action, taking into account what fits the values and traditions of our society. Then he assigned proficient directors for this program at all regions, and specialized work teams to work at the hospitals adopting this program. They were trained to perfection, and this, accordingly, has brought success to this program since its launch on.”
Dr. Al-Huzaim further expounded that this program is basically meant to provide safe health care services for patients at their homes; which will add much to the promotion of the services provided to them, especially patients who need medical follow-up without hospitalization. This program embodies a concept that has long been adopted in many countries around the world. It was a significant success in many cases, and helped provide better health services.
“Besides,” he added, “the delivery of health services to patients at their homes is reckoned a newly developed concept through which the Ministry of Health (MOH) seeks to apply and make good use of, in concordance with a set of clear rules and regulations ensuring meeting patients' requirements and fulfilling the Leadership's aspirations. This program proves particularly important in light of the fact that there are patients in bad need for medical care and follow-up by health specialists under a system, varying in accordance with the patient's condition and the nature of his disease. This type of medical care does not require patients to stay at hospitals.”
For sake of further clarity, Dr. Al-Huzaim explained that this program comprises a set of health activities and services provided given types of patients at their homes, in compliance with certain standards and mechanisms applied by a work team qualified and prepared for this very purpose. The program takes as its goal the provision of healthcare for patients at their homes safely and comfortably, without the need for hospitalization, in addition to helping patients get recovered and restore their health, in terms of the physical, mental, rehabilitative and social aspects. It also protects patients from getting caught by infection while staying at hospital for long time, and makes it easier for the patient's family and relatives to visit him.
Besides, this program is necessary for raising people's awareness and informing them of the proper health instructions to be followed by patients and their families. This role is aptly incurred by the health team during the delivery of the health service. The program, also, provides the necessary medical equipment for patients, in coordination with the relevant governmental and private health sectors. Finally, the program is effective in the rationalization of expenditure at hospitals, by lowering the proportion of hospitalization, and reducing the frequency of visits to hospitals, especially by patients with chronic and aging-associated diseases.
Concluding his announcement, Dr. Al-Huzaim made clear that, in order for the Home Healthcare Program to be carried out, there are certain criteria and requirements to be met by patients. These requirements include: a) a transfer request to the Home Healthcare Program should be prescribed by the physician, b) the patient have to be one of the groups targeted by the program, c) his health situation is supposed to be somehow stable, d) the patient should be up to 50 km from the hospital (up to 30 minutes by car), e) the transfer must be approved by the head of the family (homeowner) so as to be followed up by the health team, f) the appropriateness of a curative environment at home, and g) the availability of a person (family member) to take care of the patient.