The Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Medical Violations Committee at the Eastern Region Health Affairs General Directorate, has fined two private hospitals SR. 200.000 (SR. 100.000 each, as the maximum fining limit), after investigating the breaches referred to the violation committee by the Director General of Eastern Province Health Affairs, and after failing to comply with infection control guidelines issued by the Rapid Inspection Team to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
The Director General of Eastern Region Health Affairs, Dr. Khalid Al-Shaibani, said, “Such ongoing actions come under direct supervision of His Excellency the Minister of Health, Mr. Ahmad bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb, and in coordination with the MOH's Command and Control Center, in order to preserve health and safety of citizens and residents.”
Dr. Al-Shaibani added that the Rapid Inspection Team, affiliated to the Command and Control Center of the Easter Region Health Affairs General Directorate, has recorded several irregularities endangering lives of patients and visitors. “Such violations," according to Dr. Al-Shaibani, "range from non-compliance of the said two hospitals with the infection control procedures, to failing to report infectious cases. These irregularities represent infringements of the Private Health Institutions Law, the Hospital Infection Control Law, and Infectious Diseases Reporting Law.”
On his part, the Deputy Minister for Public Health, and Head of the CCC, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Saeed, said, “These efforts go in line with the steps taken by the CCC to handle the expected seasonal increase of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases in the Kingdom, as indicated through epidemiological studies of outbreaks in recent years.”
It's worth mentioning here that the CCC is applying infection control guidelines against Coronavirus and Ebola in the health facilities. These guidelines have been approved and circulated to all health affairs directorates in the provinces and regions. By doing so, the Center seeks to combat the infectious diseases, such as MERS-COV and Ebola. This comes also as part of the MOH's endeavors to bolster and support the improvement of all facets in the Saudi healthcare system needed to curb the spread of infectious diseases and to maintain healthy lifestyles in the Kingdom at large.
The MOH underlined the importance of infection prevention, and advised citizens and residents to adopt the following practices: Washing hands with water and soap, avoiding contact with Coronavirus cases, refraining from touching eyes or the nose, coughing in a tissue or putting arm on the mouth when sneezing and then washing hands and the arm thoroughly, avoiding close contact with camels infected with respiratory symptoms, and abiding by preventive measures when dealing with them.