By Allah’s Grace, the Northern Borders Health Affairs has started using laparoscopy in cardiology and coronary artery implants for the first time on a cardiomyopathic and coronary artery failure patient in her 60s. The laparoscope was used to graft the vein. Conventional surgery involves a 25cmx70cm incision to get the graft, while the laparoscope needs a 2cmx1cm incision only; thus, reducing the pains. This also reduces the recovery and healing time. The patient is in good health now and is fully recovering, thank Allah.
It is worth noting the Northern Borders Affairs features 12 specialized medical centers (cardiac center, 5 diabetes centers, 3 kidney centers and 3 dental centers), in addition to 11 hospitals with 1,410-bed capacity. The Affairs also provides delicate specialized medical services, including: Neurosurgery, cardiology, obesity surgery, laparoscopy, oncology, and much more. The Affairs also include 48 primary healthcare centers. The hospitals served in 2017 1,574,068 outpatients and performed 18,769 surgeries, while the healthcare centers provided its services to 904,580 outpatients.
On the other hand, in its 2017 achievements report, MoH added 65 new healthcare centers, making all health centers across the Kingdom into 2,390 instead of 2,325. These centers have helped provide facility-based health services to over 300 thousand citizens. These centers have been enhanced with necessary manpower, appliances and medical supplies. Also, new 39 centers are designated to operate for longer hours up to 11:00pm. In so doing, 204 centers so far operate up to 11:00pm instead of 165 centers before. MoH seeks to provide comprehensive coverage across the Kingdom, to reduce congestion and to meet the beneficiaries’ needs. Hence, more manpower (highly trained doctors) have been supplied, in addition to training the existing medical and administrative staff and providing security services in all centers on duty.