His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, has received a congratulation note from His Excellency Eng. Mohammed Jamil bin Ahmed Mullah, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, on the occasion of the MOH's winning of the "Best E-Content Award" in the Second GCC e-Government Award & Conference which was held in Kuwait during the period from 13 to 15 November 2011. Many governmental entities, from Saudi Arabia and GCC countries, participated in the conference, with a view to show their best achievements in e-government projects and programs.
Eng. Mullah thanked Dr. Al-Rabeeah on the effective participation of the Ministry of Health and its team participating in the conference, pointing out that this participation highlights the Kingdom's high profile in the field of e-government, which gained remarkable laud from the participants and attendants coming along from all the GCC countries. Meanwhile, he wished for all more success and greater achievements, as they are the cornerstone of the transition of the Saudi society to be an advanced knowledge society.
For his part, the Advisor to the Minister of Health & General Supervisor of ICT, Dr. Mohammed R. Al Yemeni explained that the directives of the Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah and his keenness to work in accordance with the strategic plans had the greatest impact on winning this award among 16 projects Saudis involved.
Dr. Al-Yemeni added, "The strategic plan of MOH Portal, within its major objectives, was keen to meet the need of the citizens by facilitating the procedures for their transactions and inquiries from the Ministry, and the Portal has obtained this unique rank – that should come as no surprise however – as a result of the huge efforts that have been exerted by the Portal staff since the first emergence of the idea till its coming into being".
He went on to say, "On this special occasion, I would like to thank all colleagues in the e-Government Program (Yesser) for their great efforts in supporting all Saudi Government entities and highlighting their successes in various occasions, and extend my thanks to brothers in the State of Kuwait for their extraordinary efforts exerted in hosting and organizing this successful conference. I wish success for all."
In the same context, Eng. Rayan Al-Fayez, MOH Portal Project Manager, who has received the award, said, the efficiency of the Portal was based on hard work and joint effort, especially that the portal has focused, from the very beginning, on users with a view to achieving their needs and requirements.
The MOH Portal Project Manager pointed out that many strategic analyses were conducted at the beginning of work in order to monitor the aspirations of the potential users of the portal from the different government agencies, citizens, residents and business sector. He emphasized that all operational plans that have been prepared on the basis of this analysis was aimed at achieving most of these aspirations with a focus on continuous improvements to keep abreast of any developments in the field information technology.
Eng. Al-Fayez further expounded that there are many elements that make the portal distinct such as ease of use and access to information for everybody including persons with special needs, and opening the largest possible number of channels of e-participation and support productive interaction between the portal and users, in addition to utilizing the latest technology for web development.