The Assistant Deputy Minister for Engineering Affairs at the Ministry of Health (MOH) , Eng. Ahmed bin Ali Al-Baiz underlined that the ministry is working to develop the security and safety sector by linking all its facilities electronically; in an endeavor to secure a safe environment to patients and visitors equally.
Speaking before the opening session of the meeting of the heads of security and safety departments in the health affairs directorates in the Kingdom which took place at the ministry's headquarters on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, Eng. Al-Baiz said that the objective behind establishing the security and safety department is to sidestep incidents in the ministry's facilities. Hence, the MOH is implementing an aspiring training program to provide all its employees with the basics of safety, firefighting, hazardous materials, emergency and evacuation plans, etc.
He went on saying that, the Security and Safety General Department is working to develop a series of unified policies and measures in all health facilities. These series include policies and measures at the levels of the ministry, the directorates and the facilities. Training is also provided to safety supervisors in the hospitals so as to post them on risks and ways to avoid incidents. Afterwards, those supervisors will be tasked to train their colleagues in hospitals through a training center specialized in safety and security of health facilities.
For his part, Eng. Ahmed Al-Tirkistani briefed the audience on the ministry's plan to connect all its facilities electronically. The disaster plans specialist, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Mughaieb, has expounded a number of issues relating to the developing of work in the security and safety sector in line with directives set to separate contracts of security guards from those of maintenance staff. Mr. Mohamed Al-Khabarani explained to the audience the updates of the contracts separation process and the importance of training in developing the professional cadres.
Within the same context, Mr. Saeed Al-Shahrani made a brief presentation about the courses and workshops organized by the training department to raise the efficiency of the sector. Mr. Ahmed Sharaf explained the steps made to raise security awareness at the ministry's premises, including making lists of security personnel's cards and linking them with the computer system.
The meeting wrapped up its sessions with a review made by security and safety departments in the regions on their achievements besides the obstacles that faced them. That was followed by a discussion chaired by the general director of security and safety in the ministry on overcoming obstacles, raising performance and protecting the patients to achieve the ministry's objective in having health facilities free from incidents.