His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, has paid an inspection visit, last Thursday May 19th, 2016 (corresponding to Sha‘ban 12th, 1437H), to King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH), where he was received by the CEO of KKESH, Dr. Abdul-Elah bin Abbad Al-Towerki, and a number of the hospital’s officials. During the visit, he toured through the hospital’s sections, including outpatient clinics, radiology section, diabetes center, operating rooms, intensive care unit (ICU), medical television, laboratory, eye bank, stem cells laboratory, central pharmacy, and outpatient clinics pharmacy. Besides, Al-Rabiah visited some of the patients hospitalized at the short stay unit (SSU) and checked on the services provided to them.
After that, Al-Rabiah watched a brief presentation on the achievements of the Information Technology (IT) Department, which included the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and the information technology in human resources, finance and procurement, in addition to the services provided to patients and visitors.
At the end of the visit, Al-Rabiah wrote down a message in which he said: “It is my pleasure to visit KKESH, which is considered a leading hospital in the Middle East, and I am so pleased with and proud of the outstanding techniques and experiences at the hospital, as well as its achievements. It has come to my knowledge that a large number of the employees in this field have graduated from this hospital, which is one of the first hospitals offering fellowship programs in this specialty”.
He added: “I congratulate the team members, who worked hard to achieve the seventh stage (HIMSS Stage 7), the matter which is reckoned a great progress; as KKESH is the first hospital in the region to get such achievement. The hospital has worked on the IT development and achieving international prizes in this regard. The IT team is really a distinctive team, and I am keen to support the hospital to keep on its excellence and achievements.”
It is noteworthy that such achievements have placed the hospital in the rank of globally advanced centers, in terms of using the IT in the healthcare industry. By achieving the seventh stage (HIMSS Stage7), the hospital has become one of the hospitals which are successful in using such advanced level of IT in the healthcare domain. In the United States, only 4.2% from a total number of 5454 candidate hospitals were awarded Stage 7. Furthermore, only four hospitals in Europe, one Korean hospital and three Chinese hospitals in Asia were awarded stage 7. The classification was awarded to the hospital in recognition of its compliance with the highest standards of quality in the implementation of HER System.