As a part of the Ministry of Health (MOH) initiatives to develop the primary healthcare centers and improve the quality of its services, 9 specialized consultation centers have been equipped to serve citizens across the region. According to Riyadh Health Affairs, 4 consultation centers have been assigned to treat hepatitis C cases at the primary healthcare centers where all required screenings and x-rays will be performed to detect the disease and all those in contact with patients will be examined.
The Affairs said that the centers come in continuation of MOH's efforts to activate the centers' role and enhance them with consultants in various specialties including internal medicine, ophthalmology, pediatrics, surgery, asthma, preventive medicine, ENT, dermatology, orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, and mental clinics, as such are located near the beneficiaries of the services in the neighborhoods. The centers service patients referred from the primary healthcare centers with the aim of alleviating pressure on hospitals and reducing waiting lists.
It is noteworthy that MOH, in line with its contribution to achieve the target of the National Transformation Program 2020, has launched the initiative of (reforming and restructuring the primary healthcare), as a part of 40 initiatives designed to develop and improve the Kingdom's healthcare services and facilities to meet the demands of the community and the expectations of our righteous leader - may Allah protect him.
This new initiative aims at providing advanced outstanding primary healthcare services, to boost satisfaction with this sector's services, and to foster the outpatients' trust in the health services. The initiative also seeks to restore confidence in primary healthcare centers, given the growing numbers of outpatients, to ensure accessibility to all beneficiaries to reduce the burden on different health professionals, to boost the preventive measures, and to make health services more accessible to beneficiaries, in addition to reducing congestion on emergency departments and outpatient clinics.