His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah has declared that the memorandum of understanding, signed last Sunday between the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) and the French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, in the presence of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, May Allah protect him, and the French President, emphasizes the keenness and attention the Custodian Two Holy Mosques pays to the citizen’s health, as well as harnessing all capabilities to provide the best health services to them. This memorandum, also, testifies the unstinting support attached by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the Second Deputy Prime Minister, May Allah protect them, to the health sector.
Within the same vein, Dr. Al-Rabeeah has pointed out that this Saudi-French memorandum aims at the reinforcement of the friendship ties and cooperation between both countries, in concordance with the in-force laws and regulations in both countries, in line with the paradigm shift witnessed recently by MOH; for the development and promotion of health services, as well as meeting the citizens' health needs. Furthermore, Dr. Al-Rabeeah has indicated that this memorandum will reinforce cooperation between both countries in numerous health fields; most notably, the Visiting Physician Program, and the direct cooperation between the best medical and scientific centers in both countries, aside from the organization of some technical training courses for the MOH cadres, and the cooperation in the fields of controlling and treatment of communicable, non-communicable and novel diseases. Dr Al-Rabeeah went on adding that this memorandum will also promote the exchange of experiences, information and research results in the health domain, the exchange of experts and specialists between the two sides, the cooperation in the development of Saudi health system, as well as facilitating the treatment of Saudi patients at the French medical institutions. Furthermore, Dr. Al-Rabeeah noted that this memorandum stipulates the establishment of a technical committee to follow up the implementation of the memorandum provisions. Meetings of the committee shall be held in both countries interchangeably when needed.
It is worth mentioning that the duration of this Saudi-French memorandum is five years. It shall be put into force thirty days after the date of the last mutual consent to be reached at by both parties through diplomatic channels.