The Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) has signed a partnership agreement with General Electric (GE) to set up a comprehensive Healthcare Skills Training Institute within King Fahd Medical City (KFMC); in an endeavor to develop the skills of MOH's employees as well as the other health staff within the Kingdom, as part of the Ministry's strategy to improve and develop the services provided for patients and to activate the slogan; “Patient First”.
The signing ceremony was attended by His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, and GE's Executive Director, Mr. Jeffrey Immelt, while the agreement terms were signed by Dr. Mahmoud Al-Yamani, the Executive Director of King Fahad Medical City, and Mr. Skander Malcolm, President & Executive Director of GE Healthcare, in the presence of a number of agents and employees of the Ministry of Health and senior officials of GE.
The agreement is expected to serve in the activation of the concept of social partnership, which is consistent with the goals outlined in the Saudi Arabia's Ninth Development Plan for the healthcare sector and the Ministry of Health's Strategic Healthcare Plan, and is in line with MOH's slogan “Patient First”. The institute to be established will offer many technical, clinical and healthcare management courses for the Saudi healthcare professionals.
Commenting on the important milestone, His Excellency Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah said, “Building the skills of our professionals and modernizing the healthcare infrastructure are key priorities in the Ministry's Strategic Healthcare Plan which focuses on the adoption of an integrated and comprehensive healthcare system and development of research and education scope in the Kingdom.”
Within the same vein, Dr. Al-Rabeeah underscored that the Ministry currently works on enhancing all performance indicators; in an endeavor to ensure the upgrading of public health to higher levels, stressing that the development of the Saudi healthcare infrastructure depends mainly on providing the latest and most advanced training programs for the healthcare specialists. The new Healthcare Skills Training Institute will further contribute to building a stronger talent pool of Saudi healthcare professionals to be benefited from in the future.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah further noted that the collaboration with GE aims to develop the health care sector in the Kingdom through eight preliminary programs. Such programs focus on promoting the health awareness, upgrading the field of training and laboratory testing, localizing the advanced technology, encouraging scientific researches and studies, improving the level of productivity and performance in the health sectors, promoting the awareness campaign against breast cancer, and finding advanced solutions to keep pace with the growing health care needs of the Saudi patients.
For his part, Mr. Jeffrey Immelt described the plan and strategy adopted by the Ministry of Health as one of the unique initiatives in the region, noting that the GE is seeking to have a role in the development of the Kingdom in general and the health sector in particular.
Moreover, Mr. Jeffrey said that the GE is keen to cooperate seriously with the Ministry of Health through providing the required support such as the transfer and localization of knowledge with the best capabilities, the training of the health care staff, providing the Ministry with the cutting-edge technology especially in the field of health laboratories, in addition to strengthening GE's basis in the field of raising the level of quality and service in accordance with the ambition of those in need for it.
For his part, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Yamani highlighted that the agreement aims to develop the skills of the employees of King Fahd Medical City, contributing to the provision of high level and world-class services for patients. In addition, he pointed out that the KFMC is proceeding with its strategic objectives which target achieving the health leadership in all aspects, including developing the skills of KFMC's employees and the skills of the other health care workers in the Kingdom or even in the region or worldwide.
Furthermore, Dr. Al-Yamani revealed that KFMC is determined to use advanced programs in developing the skills of its human cadres, and continue searching for more relations with the world's top institutions in the field of training, noting that such a step comes out of KFMC's objectives and duties to train and develop the skills of the employees of the medical sector all over the Kingdom, and to be a leading reference for the whole region.
On the other hand, Dr. Skander Malcolm said, “Through our partnership with the Ministry, GE is supporting knowledge sharing and capacity building; in an endeavor to boost the Kingdom's healthcare infrastructure and develop the skills of its professionals. Having already extended our training support to over 4,500 Saudi professionals through more than 200 courses, GE will work with the Ministry and KFMC to offer custom-design training programs that complement the Ministry of Health's healthcare transformation goals and Strategic Healthcare Plan.
It is noteworthy that the Healthcare Skills Training Institute aims to improve the training skills and capabilities of the health care professionals working in the Kingdom and the region, in an endeavor to achieve the goals outlined in the Saudi Arabia's Ninth Development Plan for the healthcare sector and the Ministry of Health's Strategic Healthcare Plan, in line with MOH's slogan “Patient First”.