MOH News

Northern Borders: Decrease in Patient Referrals to Reference Hospitals by More than 90%
19 November 2018

​According to the Northern Borders Health Affairs, the past two years recorded a decrease in patient referrals to reference hospitals inside the region by more than 90%. The number of patients referred to reference hospitals was 9,346 in 1437H., 5,827 in 1438H., until it decreased to 880 cases in 1439H.


“Also, the rate of cases received by emergency department of Maternity and Children Hospital decreased to 61%. The pediatric emergency department received 2,703 cases one week (and for 24 hours) before launching Al-Salehiya Al-Awsat Healthcare Center, while it received 1,045 cases one week after launching”, added the Affairs.

These rates reflect one of the outstanding success stories achieved by the Northern Borders Health Affairs. By Allah’s Grace, such rates decreased due to several factors, most prominently: the field-based service instead of facility-based service, the maximum benefit from «Visiting Physicians» Program, as well as attracting some important specialties.

It is worth mentioning that the Northern Borders Health Affairs features 12 specialized medical centers (a cardiac center, 5 diabetes centers, 3 kidney centers, and 3 dental centers), in addition to 11 hospitals with a 1,410-bed capacity, which are enhanced with a number of delicate medical specialties, such as: neurosurgery, heart surgery, bariatric surgery, endoscopy, oncology, and others. Also, the Affairs has 48 primary healthcare centers.

These steps come in line with MOH's efforts to achieve one of its objectives in the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020, in terms of improving the health care provided before hospitalization and at emergency and ICU departments of main hospitals. Also, this goal is related to one of the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, specifically improving the quality of both preventive and therapeutic healthcare services.









Last Update : 21 November 2018 01:09 PM
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