His Excellency the Minister of Health, and Chairman of the Health Services Board, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, has lauded Cabinet's Resolution, stipulating to change the Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions. (CBAHI), to the so-called Saudi Center for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (SCAHI).
In a press statement on this occasion, Dr. Al-Rabeeah said: “This resolution reflects the keenness of the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, May Allah protect them, and their interest in the health sector, in a manner contributing to the promotion and improvement of health services, meanwhile, supporting the Ministry of Health's efforts on focusing the attention of putting into force the motto of:“Patient First”, as well as working on his service, gaining his satisfaction, and maintaining his health and safety.”
Within the same vein, Dr. A-Rabeeah pointed out that the resolution is reckoned a major step for the development of health services, and the improvement of the performance level at health facilities, which is the objective we constantly seek and work to achieve.
Furthermore, Dr. A-Rabeeah underlined that the resolution will contribute, Allah willing, to increasing the umbrella of the accreditation of health and medical facilities after making sure of their conformity to the international standards. The resolution also will give a strong momentum to the center’s tasks, its ongoing cope with the international standards, and its keenness to take advantage of the local and international expertise to achieve its objectives and orientations.
The Minister of health went on adding that the patient and visitor of medical and health installations will be the first beneficiaries, through these installations that should apply the highest international standards, which seeks to achieve, and in due course causes to improve the level of safety and quality of health care services provided to patients. This will be reflected positively in favor of all health installations accredited by SCAHI, as well as achieving the endless improvement in the quality of services provided to patients according to the international principles and standards of practice in dealing with the negatives and development of positives, which leads to the highest levels of performance, meanwhile, a Saudi health and medical sector categorized by high quality and competitiveness.
It is worth mentioning that SCAHI will assume a number of tasks and duties; namely the adoption of national and unified standards for all health facilities in the Kingdom in the fields of health practices, including the medical, pharmaceutical, safety of facilities and laboratory services, as well as reviewing the standards on a regular basis and ensuring their suitability to the health work domain in the Kingdom. Furthermore, SCAHI will contribute to the creation of the proper environment to health facilities to put quality standards into force, in addition to monitoring the level of performance at health facilities to ensure their commitment to the accredited standards. Also, SCAHI will undertake the responsibility of accreditation of all health facilities in the Kingdom, and the development of appropriate mechanisms to evaluate the performance of health facilities, by monitoring the achievement of the acknowledged performance indicators, that is to be added to preparing the qualified residents for accreditation tasks, training them and conducting studies and researches in the area of the Centre's work. Also, among responsibility of SCAHI are to create a database of health facilities, cooperation and exchange of experiences with foreign accreditation authorities, coordinating between government agencies and others, in a manner that serves the purposes of the Center, enhancing cooperation and coordination between the Kingdom and other countries in order to achieve the purposes of the center, in line with the accredited rules and regulations, and the organization and participation in conferences and local and international seminars.