A workshop organized by the Health Services Council, in cooperation with the World Bank, has come to a closure. The workshop was meant to reconsider priorities and prepare effective implementation programs, as well as the evaluation of the potential results and risk management when coming to implementation. Also, a number of workshops were held in the form of morning and afternoon sessions over the period from 1 to 3 May, 2012.
During the workshop, a worksheet was submitted by Dr. Tamer Abdulghani, from the World Bank, putting forward a number of recommendations meant to develop and pinpoint the outcome indicators of each program of the strategic healthcare programs. It followed the Dr. Anis Bars, from the World Banks, delivered another worksheet on “Outcome Indicators Evaluation and Follow-up Techniques”. The third worksheet was centered on “Risk Management when Applying Outcome Indicators to Strategic Programs”. It was delivered by Dr. Pretty, from the World Bank.
Then, Eng. Ali Al Sama', the member of the Executive Board of the Healthcare Strategy, Advisor of the Minister of Communication, and Director-General of the E-Government Program “Yasser”, delivered an address on the experience of Yasser Program and its strategies. He explained all the phases of the development and implementation of the Strategy, as well as the hardships and challenges, and the ways to solve them. Dr. Tarik Al-Rasheed, for his part, completed this explanation on the Strategy's website. The sessions were concluded by holding a discussion on results, comments and final remarks.
For his part, Dr. Ya'qoub bin Youssef Al-Mazrou, the Secretary-General of the Health Services Council, pointed out that this work shop has been held in cooperation with the World Bank, with a view to providing recommendations on the application of the Saudi Healthcare Strategy, and carrying it to perfection. He said, “Cooperation with the World Bank proceeds from our keen interest in making good use of their broad expertise in this field. The World Bank has formerly cooperated with a number of countries which embraced analogous healthcare strategies.”
Dr. Al-Mazrou went on to say, “The Executive Board of the Council of Health has been always paying particular attention to the experiences of the forerunners in this domain. It embraces the principle of partnership in all national projects with experienced, high-profile partners, both individuals and institutions. In so doing, we're looking forward to starting from where others have ended.” Speaking of the importance of this workshop, Dr. Al-Mazrou affirmed that it puts the Strategy into action, backed by our great aspirations and the vigorous interaction of all government sectors.
After that, attendees have been divided into three groups, to pinpoint the results of the programs devoted to the Saudi Healthcare Strategy, in accordance with the World Bank's recommendations. Then, in the concluding session, the tasks of every group were assigned.
It is worth mentioning that the Executive Board of the Saudi Healthcare Strategy includes in its membership all the Kingdom's health sectors; namely: the Ministry of Health (MOH), the National Guard Health Affairs (NGHA), the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), the Security Forces Hospital (SFH), King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KHSH), the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA), the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI), the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC), and the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS), in addition to the representative of other government sectors: the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Planning and National Economy, and the Ministry of Education.
The Board held its fourth meeting on the sidelines of the workshop. It discussed an offer proposed by a company to implement the Strategies twenty four programs. It also discussed merging some programs with recursive tasks, as well as dividing some programs too large area of action, with the aim to enhance concentration, save time, and avert duplication. It has been approved that some strategic programs will be merged, and others will be divided. Besides, work teams will be formed to coordinate the work of each program, and specialized offices will be assigned to prepare a detailed study of each program.