The Assistant Director-General of the WHO for Health Security and Environment, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, has announced he's greatly impressed by the strenuous efforts exerted by the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in pursuit of providing “state-of-the-art” healthcare services, both preventive and curative, for its citizens, as well as its guests (visiting the Kingdom annually for pilgrimage – Hajj and Umrah). He also lauded the MOH's endeavors to develop excellent health policies and mechanisms to protect citizens from diseases. This announcement was made at the end of his meeting with His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, on the sidelines of the 65th session of the WHO General Assembly, currently held in Geneva.
Dr. Fukuda pointed out that he discussed with Dr. Al-Rabeeah the Kingdom's impressive efforts in the field of mass medicine, in light of the fact that the WHO has become more and more concerned about handling masses in the new century. It has been noticed that many third-world countries have to deal with large masses in a limited place for a short time; which raises and triggers many dilemmas and health troubles. Thereupon arises the importance of the Kingdom's experience in this domain. Furthermore, commenting on the Kingdom's initiative to adopt mass medicine, Dr. Fukudah thanked KSA for acting as a “center for excellence” in this arena. He also asked the Saudi Minister of Health whether it would be appropriate for the Kingdom to train the health workers of such countries, and provide the necessary information and experience in the field of mass medicine.
The Assistant Director-General of the WHO for Health Security and Environment, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, added, “The meeting discussed, besides, the international efforts exerted in the field of public health all over the world with the aim to rationalize the use of antibiotics, considering the current challenges and concerns about the resistance of several microbes causing communicable diseases to antibiotics. We have called upon the Kingdom to support the efforts aiming to overcome such challenges, by maintaining the effectiveness of antibiotics in treatment. Moreover, the meeting came over supporting the international efforts meant to control viral hepatitis around the world, especially in light of the Kingdom's broad expertise and preventive programs in this domain.”