In the presence of the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health for Supportive Medical Services, Dr. Munira Al-Esseimi, the second workshop within the first phase of the project entitled: “Improvement of Diets for Patients at the Ministry of Health's (MOH) Hospitals” was held on Wednesday, May 25th, 2016 (corresponding to Sha‘ban 18th, 1437H), at the training center of Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health in Riyadh. On this occasion, Dr. Al-Esseimi expressed her happiness over the project progress and lauded the team's efforts, meanwhile hoping that this project will include all the MOH’s hospitals, in order to achieve the leadership’s aspirations and the patient’s satisfaction at first place, the goal that everyone seeks.
For his part, the Supervisor-General of Nutrition General Department, Mr. Meshari bin Hamad Al-Dakhil, stated that the first phase of the project was launched in 1436H, encompassing a number of the MOH's specialist competencies in nutrition; with a view to raising the patients’ satisfaction of the diets provided at the MOH's hospitals, as well as improving these diets. In this regard, a work team has been formed to constantly monitor the diets at each hospital; in order to ensure that the diets, served to patients at the MOH's hospitals, are compliant with the performance and quality standards. Besides, he pointed out that the first phase of the project, which covered the city of Riyadh, has been completed, and the second phase will be proceeded to include the regions of Makkah, Jeddah, Assir, Hail and Al-Qassim, respectively, and then all hospitals of the regions in subsequent phases.
Within the same vein, Al-Dakhil lauded the Saudi specialist competencies in nutrition, as there are about 1.300 nutrition specialists working under the umbrella of the Ministry and overseeing the provision of more than 67 diets annually. In addition, the preparation and serving diets are daily being monitored from their initial phases up to reaching the beneficiaries, by means of direct supervision, field visits, and reporting on a regular basis.
For his part, the Project Director, Dr. Abdullatif Al-Jasir, commended the efforts exerted by his colleagues, the teamwork spirit they have showed during the project, and the support from the MOH's officials, meanwhile praying for Allah that the project will achieve its desired objectives all over the MOH's hospitals.
He went on saying that two training centers at Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health and Al-Yamamah Hospital have been accredited for training the nutrition specialists on the implementation of the aforementioned project.
After that, Al-Jasir handed over the project to the Assistant Director-General of Riyadh Health Affairs for Supportive Medical Services, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Ayyadhi, to cover all hospitals in Riyadh region. At the end of the ceremony, Dr. Al-Esseimi honored and distributed certificates and shields of honor to the team members and collaborating hospitals, in recognition of their efforts exerted to render the project a success.