His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, approved of a decision to the effect that 5 private medical facilities are to be shut down in several districts in Riyadh as a precautionary closure.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) made clear that the closure decision for these facilities was issued according to what the field inspection teams of the Private Sector Department in the General Directorate for Health Affairs in Riyadh detected of irregularities, which included working without obtaining ultimate license or with invalid licenses, in addition to recruiting cadres unlicensed to practice the health professions.
Thus, these decisions have been translated into shutting down 3 dental clinics and 2 clinics as a result of systemic irregularities after having them submitted to Medical Irregularities Committee in the General Directorate for Health Affairs in Riyadh. These systemic irregularities ranged from the unavailability of the minimum limit of the medical cadres, working without obtaining regular licenses, the shortage of the medical equipment in terms of ambulances or emergency equipment to the unavailability of the minimum limit of consultants in each complex. Further, some of these complexes work without obtaining the ultimate licenses for the cadres or facilities. Hence, after having these irregularities submitted to the Private Health Institutions Irregularities Committee, the closure decisions were issued.
The Ministry has approved of the resolution issued by the commission assigned to consider the irregularities to the Private Health Institutions Law in Jeddah. By virtue of this resolution, a fine of SR 10.000, in addition to another fine of SR 5.000, are to be imposed to the facilities violating Article (3 – 1) of the Health Facilities and Pharmaceuticals Law and its regulation. Among the violations covered by the article is hiring a pharmacist who does not obtain a valid license to practice the profession, aside from not keeping the origin of the pharmacy license inside it. The pharmacist has been referred to the committee assigned to consider the irregularities of health practitioners in Jeddah. These resolutions, according to the MOH, emanate from the Ministry's keenness to preserve patients' health and safety, and fostering the improvement of the health services provided by the private health sector.
The Ministry has reaffirmed that it shall never tolerate any errors that could affect the health and safety of citizens and residents. And it will continue to impose the maximum penalties and take the statutory acts towards any health institution proven to be non-compliant with the required quality standards of health services, in an effort to encourage such non-compliant institutions to improve their conditions, and redress any errors, in accordance with the provisions stipulated by the statutory procedures.
The Ministry, besides, called upon the private health sector, regarded as a strategic partner in health development, to abide by the accepted scientific QA standards, with a view to providing high quality health services for beneficiaries.