MOH News

Dr. Memish Confirms the MOH's Expansion of Health Services and Programs throughout the Kingdom
21 November 2012
   The Undersecretary of Public Health, Dr. Ziad bin Ahmed Memish, has affirmed that the Ministry of Health (MOH) continues to expand health services and programs. This is strongly felt all health facilities throughout the Kingdom's regions.
 
Dr. Memish made this announcement during the opening of the meeting of all coordinators of the National Program for Newborns Early Examination, meant to reduce disability, which was held on Wednesday morning at the MOH Headquarters with the regions' coordinators attending.
 
He pointed out that all the efforts exerted should be associated with distinct performance in order to attain the patients' satisfaction, meet their health needs, and contribute to upgrading the services provided to them.
 
Furthermore, the Assistant Undersecretary of Primary Health Care, Dr. Omar Ba-Suleiman confirmed that the distinctive efforts are the collar of the health services, and they are reflected in general on the health indictor. Thus, the Ministry of Health (MOH) harnesses all its capabilities for supporting the National Program for Newborns Early Examination to reduce disability; in order to provide a role model to be followed at the regional and international levels.     
 
For his part, the Director-General of Hereditary and Chronic Diseases Control, Dr. Mohammad Al-Sa'eedi confirmed that the Ministry of Health (MOH) in the Kingdom spared no effort with regard to providing the health services and care for citizens along with supervising and sharing in providing such services for those residing in our dear country. He further confirmed that the care includes the diagnostic and curative services and the medical follow-up from the first moments of life after the birth directly; and it starts even before that through providing the care to the pregnant mother and their fetus before birth, through following up the pregnancy phases.
 
In addition, he pointed out that the MOH's vision aims to secure the umbrella of health care throughout the age groups: childhood, motherhood, adolescence, maturity, and aging. He also drew attention to the fact that the Ministry of Health provides its previous services for this group through many programs; first and foremost of which is neonatal early examination program to put an end to disability from the first hours of birth. This is in order to detect selected metabolic and hormonal diseases; the survey studies, in the Kingdom, proved that they are the most widespread.
 
He went on pointing out that the majority of these diseases result from recessive genetic mutations due to relative marriage, making clear that this means taking care of any baby injured with these diseases. Thus, this program aims to diagnose these diseases, and secure treatment for them, whether through nutritional formulations, medicines and following them up. This is in order to avoid their negative effects which could have an impact on the life of this childhood group and their future. He further made clear that since Safar 1432h, the Ministry of Health adopt a policy to the effect that every neonate of the MOH's hospitals is included in this program until it became a national program obliging to the patents, health cadres in the MOH's hospitals applying it. Meanwhile, the examination period has been extended to cover the first month past the birth, rather than the first 24 hours; in order not to exclude any Saudi newborn baby of the MOH's hospitals from examination. And the program is to include non-Saudi newborn babies in later stages after approving of the policies, legislatures, and priorities appropriate for that.
 
And he added that this meeting is held in order to shed light on the MOH's vision in terms of the inclusiveness of the neonatal examination. As such, the average number of the birth cases, in the Kingdom, nears 430,000 newborn babies in a single year. Meanwhile, the relative marriage still represents a social habit in the Kingdom as result of which the injury rate with diseases rises. He also made clear that the Ministry of Health (MOH) established three diagnostic centers attached to the regional laboratories in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah, and distributed the MOH's hospitals where children and obstetrics sections, nursery units, and neonatal intensive care are available, to these three laboratories. This is in order to facilitate and enhance the inclusiveness of examination, as the Ministry of Health already started the program on the last Ramadan 24th.
 
Furthermore, he pointed out that this meeting comes within the framework of the exerted efforts in order to achieve the MOH's vision in terms of the inclusiveness of the neonatal early examination and its necessity to put an end to disability. This is in order to achieve a high aim which is to avoid the complications of these examination-targeted diseases, highlighted in the mental or physical disability, or both; or the newborn baby death, Allah forbid.
 
 



Last Update : 16 December 2012 08:15 AM
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