On his own account, and on behalf of all MOH employees, His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, has extended his deepest, loftiest and most sincere thanks and gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, his Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and his Royal Highness the Second Deputy Prime Minister, May Allah protect them, on the occasion of the Cabinet’s approval of establishing a unified council called Medical Cities and Specialized Centers Board of Directors of the Ministry of Health.
The Minister valued the continuous support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for the health sector, indicating that this generous approval embodies the great interest and constant keenness of the Government to provide specialized health care for citizens, which will have a tangible effect on promoting the level of health services, in a way living up to the ambitions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, as well as meeting citizens’ health needs. That comes within the framework of the National Project for Integrated and Comprehensive Health Care, and the Ministry’s efforts to embark on institutional work based on the collective decision; achieving the principles of equity and balance in distributing services and projects of health facilities over the Kingdom’s regions and provinces.
He clarified that the Ministry exerts its utmost efforts to improve health services and promote the level of health services performance; since the Ministry is currently witnessing a comprehensive, developmental movement and a quantum leap in all its services and facilities to serve patients, achieve their safety, and, in turn, gain their satisfaction. The Ministry, in this spirit, has introduced and implemented many services aimed at serving patients and promoting existent services.
He declared that those cities aim at providing the best health services at a high-level of specialized health care, contributing to setting high-quality rules and standards for practicing the profession of medicine in the Kingdom, in addition to contributing to providing specialized national competencies and qualifying them to work at hospital fields by providing means to train Saudi employees registered in various health education programs. Moreover, medical cities aim at adopting integrated programs to train Saudi physicians in order to prepare them to participate in providing health care at the level of residents and specialized fellowships, conducting scientific, applied researches concerning health and medical fields, and collaborating with specialized medical bodies in scientific research inside and outside the Kingdom; for the purpose of improving and promoting medicine methods as well as improving health and medical care in the Kingdom in general, and specialized precision medical specialties in particular.
Medical cities' aims include, also, collaborating with medical bodies and educational institutions in the Kingdome for the purpose of raising awareness and health education among community members, and issuing medical and scientific magazines, publications and periodicals.
His Excellency went on praying for Almighty Allah to save the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, his Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and his Royal Highness the Second Deputy Prime Minister, and to confer upon him health and well-being; to perpetuate our Kingdom's safety and stability; and to make all of our deeds sincere for Him Almighty.
According to the Ministerial Committee for Administrative Organization, Medical Cities Board of Directors is the entity in charge of all medical cities and hospitals affairs in terms of all matters including decision making, setting the medical or administrative general policy, following up work flow, adopting performance promoting programs, and enhancing the overall efficiency in a way that meets the aspired level. Furthermore, Medical Cities Board of Directors is in charge of issuing bylaws, approving financial, administrative, and technical regulations as well as administrative entities. In addition, Medical Cities Board of Directors' responsibilities include issuing organizational regulations with regards to medical eligibility, patient admission in clinics, hospitalization sections, determining financial costs for medical services, exemption rules, adopting medical research special programs and recruitment plans, administrative and financial activities and auditing them, in addition to the fiscal, to be submitted, thereafter, to the sectors concerned.
The Board is headed by the Minister of Health. Its members include the Deputy Ministry for Budget and Organizational Affairs, Assistant Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Inspection and Labour Relations, Deputy Minister of Civil Service, Deputy Minister of Health for Health Affairs, Deputy Minister of Health for Planning and Development, Secretary-General of Council of Health Services (CHS), General Executive Director of King Fahd Medical City, General Executive Director of King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah, General Executive Director of King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, General Executive Director of King Fahd Specialist Hospital - Dammam (King Khalid Medical City in the Eastern Region), General Executive Director of Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Medical City in the Northern Region, and the Secretary-General of the Board. Besides, the General Executive Director of any future medical city of specialized hospital of the MOH will be of the members of the Board.
Medical Cities Board of Directors will be holding a meeting once every two months or whenever needed. The Board has an executive committee of its members that has a monthly meeting. Also, the Board has a general secretariat that is responsible for the assistant organizational, administrative and technical arrangements. Every medical city of specialized hospital has an operational fiscal budget within the MOH’s budget.
It is worth mentioning that these medical cities and specialized hospitals include: King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh, King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah, King Fahd Specialist Hospital - Dammam (King Khalid Medical City in the Eastern Region), King Faisal Medical City in the Southern Region, Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Medical City in the Northern Region, and King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital.