His Royal Highness Crown Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, has thanked His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, and all the Ministry's employees, on the occasion of the issuance of the Annual Statistical Book for the year 1431H. This book reveals the developments of the medical services provided by the MOH's health facilities in the course of the year 1431H.
The Statistical Book shows that the total number of visits made by frequenters to the Ministry's health centers and outpatient clinics 66.300.000 visits, and a number of 450.183 surgeries have been performed, whereas the number of birth deliveries amounted to 265.626 births. The overall number of inpatients is 1.700.820 persons, and the number of laboratory tests is 142.500.000 tests, whereas the number of radiological tests is 5.600.000 tests. The number of emergency cases is 19.181.054 cases.
In his message to His Excellency Dr. Al-Rabeeah, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Naif said, “I would like to thank you, and all the Ministry's employees, for such fruitful efforts. Meanwhile, I wish for all of you even greater success. Best Regards.”
In response, His Excellency Dr. Al-Rabeeah extended his most sincere thanks and gratitude to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, affirming that he treasures the generous support of the Wise Leadership for the health sector. Dr. Al-Rabeeah pointed out that the book reveals the most important health indicators, as well as the development of the health resources, activities and services provided by the Ministry of Health (MOH) along with the other health sectors. The book also makes clear that the health services provided throughout the Kingdom have undergone massive breakthroughs over that year (1431H).
According to the book, the Kingdom's regions and provinces have witnessed a significant decrease of the incidence of the diseases that were targeted by immunization in 2010, owing to the expansion of the immunization coverage, which, by now, has reached over 90%. This proved effective in reducing the incidence of meningitis to 0.00 cases per 100.000 persons. Likewise, the incidence of whooping-cough was reduced to 0.0 cases per 100.000 persons, and the incidence of neonatal tetanus to 0.01. Also, the incidence of measles went down to 1.29 cases per 100.000 persons, rubella to 0.13 cases, and hepatitis (B) to 18.72 cases.
Furthermore, the Statistical Book underscores the increase of the MOH's hospitals to 249 hospitals. The total number of beds has reached 34.370 beds, whereas the number of health centers has amounted to 2.094 centers. Besides, the book shows that the number of the employees working for the health sector (doctors, pharmacists, nurses and medical assistant technicians) is 149.395 persons, distributed as follows: 31.517 doctors, 1.790 pharmacists, 75.978 nurses of both genders, and 40.110 technicians. The number of Saudi health employees (doctors, pharmacists, nurses and technicians) is 80.256 persons.