His Excellency the Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah ordered all those concerned with serving patients to provide all medical and ambulatory services quickly, pointing out that the receipt of emergency cases is everyone's responsibility.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah stressed that he will not accept any excuse for negligence, saying that all obstacles should be get rid of as soon as possible. Furthermore, Dr. Al-Rabeeah ordered all personnel to follow up the referral of patients from a facility to another, noting that this process should be carried out immediately and urgently without relying on others to complete the procedures.
Within the same vein, Dr. Al-Rabeeah said the follow-up should be conducted either by phone, fax or prior coordination with the competent departments of emergency and entities that receive the patients, in an endeavor to make sure that the patient has arrived in the facility and receives proper treatment.
During his meeting on Tuesday morning with the directors of emergency and crisis departments and directors of medical coordination in regions and provinces, Dr. Al-Rabeeah noted that the emergency departments in all Ministry of Health's facilities (MOH) are the most important sectors, describing them as the neck of the bottle as they give a clear indicator on the facility's readiness to provide health services for patients.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah added that the MOH pays a great attention to such departments, both at the level of hospitals or districts, calling upon all employees to highly focus on emergency programs as part of MOH's keenness to activate the slogan “Patient First”.
In the same context, Dr. Al-Rabeeah said all MOH's senior officials work to gain Almighty Allah's satisfaction at first and then to implement the directives of the rulers, May Allah protect them, which focus on the importance of maintaining security and safety of patients.
“It is our duty, as MOH employees, to pay attention to patient’s demands; as he is always right, and this is the basics of health work and ethics of the profession. Therefore, proceeding from the honesty entrusted to us, we must stand with the patient and work hard to meet his health needs and his services, and to provide the medical care for him,” said the Minister.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah further noted that the MOH faces many challenges and difficulties, especially in securing families, pointing out that they plan to provide services on a wide range, making use of the support and interest paid by the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, May Allah protect him, and efforts exerted by MOH's employees.
Also, Dr. Al-Rabeeah called upon all personnel to fruitfully cooperate in such a manner that benefits the patient, expressing hope that all workers in the Kingdom's health affairs directorates would cooperate to serve the patient and communicate together to know the pitfalls and challenge to be avoided later.
Dr. Al-Rabeeah has valued also efforts exerted by MOH's hard workers, describing them as the creative personnel who can work under difficult circumstances and face various challenges and pitfalls. He also stressed that all employees have the sense of patriotism that makes them able to do all what they can to serve and upgrade their country.
Within the same vein, Dr. Al-Rabeeah noted that the “Referral Program” is exclusively used in the Kingdom, as he linked the success of the program to efforts exerted by employees who, in turn, must work as one team and avoid any excuses or delays in the completion of the procedures. He also made clear that every employee seeks to serve the Ministry and ensure its success, calling upon them to consider the (Referral Program) as his/her personal program, thus, the success of the program will be regarded as a personal success.
For his part, the Director General of Emergency, Dr. Tarek Al-Arnous, said the 937-Service's Emergency Call Center has received since its inauguration, 5 months before and until the end of the last year, nearly 163334 calls and provided the best services that fit the stance of the Ministry of Health and its leading role in serving the homeland and citizens.
Dr. Al-Arnous highlighted that the call center considers the time management as the most important factor to complete the work, obtain great results, and achieve the required level of services; given that the average wait time for callers takes just three seconds while the call takes only one minute. The time it takes to answer the call is also three seconds. He also highlighted that the rate of calls received during the past 24 hours amounted to 907 calls, with a rate of 38 calls per hour.
Within the same vein, Dr. Al-Arnous pointed out that the number of emergency cases reached 47 cases while the number of transported ambulatory cases reached 1815 cases with a rate of 2%. The number of complaints amounted to 2099 complaints with a rate of 1%, while the number of medical consultations reached 13425 consultations with a rate of 8%. The number of inquiries reached 126018 inquiries with a rate of 77%.
Dr. Al-Arnous also highlighted that the center receives daily 10 calls to transport ambulatory cases while the number of complaints is 12 complaints a day. The number of inquiries amounted to 700 inquiries while the number of medical consultations reached 75 consultations.