His Excellency the Minister of Health, Eng. Khalid Al-Falih, met yesterday (Sunday) noon, Dhul-Hijjah 21,1436H, with more than 200 employees of the Ministry of Health (MOH), as well as from other bodies such as the Saudi Health Council (SHC) and the Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI). The Minister commenced the meeting by extending Eid greetings to everyone on the advent of Eid Al-Adha. He congratulated all those who contributed to the success of this year's Hajj season. He also lauded the great and distinctive efforts exerted by the MOH starting from the early preparations, through to the full preparedness and proper planning praised by everyone, most notably the Wise Leadership, international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other health bodies.
Al-Falih said, "MOH has performed its duty in a highly professional manner in this year's Hajj season, relying on a combination of accumulated experiences and the creative youth energies, regardless of the challenges and changes experienced during this season compared to previous ones, such as the significant rise in temperature, and the new infectious diseases affecting the region in particular, and the world as general. The recent MERS-CoV outbreak in the Kingdom bears a compelling evidence of this fact."
He went on adding that, faced with the Hajj-associated obligations, which coincided with the MERS-CoV outbreak in Riyadh, MOH took upon itself the responsibility of maintaining the public health for more than two million pilgrims, of diverse age categories, coming from different countries. “Thanks to Allah, the MOH managed with colossal efforts, great field work and cooperation of everyone to curtail prevalence of MERS-CoV throughout the Kingdom, by means of following up persons in contact with confirmed cases, and controlling the outbreak of the virus thoroughly,” underlined Al-Falih. He indicated that National Guards Hospital began to make progress and reopen some of its sections, and it will be fully operational over this week. He added that the number of patients has been reduced to less than 18 cases, who were previously infected with the virus, and currently receiving treatment till their full recovery, Allah willing.
Eng. Al-Falih headed, "We have several initiatives; not only preventive, but also having to do with MERS-CoV-related research work. Those initiatives are centered on several topics, all revolving around how to eliminate the risk of MERS-CoV prevalence.
He indicated that the Ministry's main concern was to avoid any MERS-CoV outbreaks amongst pilgrims. Thus, it had to apply special preventive measures, which have reduced incidence of the virus. And thanks be to Allah, no cases were reported amongst pilgrims.
Within the same context, Eng. Al-Falih said the Ministry managed to deal successfully with the heat exhaustion cases since the Tarwiyah Day through the medical and therapeutic teams at hospitals.
"Unfortunately, these achievements are recalled with painful events: the crane collapse at the Makkan Sanctuary, and the Mina stampede incident. These incidents are utterly a matter of fate, but MOH dealt efficiently with their repercussions," he pointed out.
Moreover, the Minister lauded the MOH employees for their precious sacrifices, and for making every effort to serve the pilgrims.
Al-Falih underlined the acclaims of a number of international delegations, who checked on the health services provided by the MOH for the victims of their countries, and branded these services as unmatched even in other developed countries."
Eng. Al-Falih said that the directions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, HRH the Crown Prince, and HRH the Deputy Crown Prince, may Allah protect them, stressed harnessing all the efforts and capabilities to serve the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims, and to upgrade the quality of the government services to be equivalent to that of the advanced countries.
He went on to say, "During the last two weeks, several workshops were held in Makkah with the participation of MOH leaders to discuss the strategic transformation of the ministry, and the development process which will begin, Allah willing, to activate many long term plans. We hope this would build on what was presented by the Health Council, which represents an extension to the efforts of the MOH to make a qualitative leap in restructuring the health sector in general, and preparing it for the coming decades and generations."
He revealed that the strategy is going to make a qualitative leap in the health sector for the coming generations; in terms of introducing new services of restructuring the sector, or engaging the private sector, insurance or the e-services, and presenting the health sector with new elements, and opening the door of opportunity for the Saudi youth cadres. He pointed out that the sector will provide hundreds of thousands of new jobs for the Saudis to help transfer the Kingdom during the coming years to a country exporting health services in all fields. This strategy, according to the Minister of Health, will be considered by the Saudi Health Council and the Economic and Development Affairs Council before being adopted.