The Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Command and Control Center (CCC) of Riyadh Health Affairs General Directorate, closed a private hospital in Riyadh after failing to comply with infection control guidelines issued by the CCC to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
The Director General of Riyadh Health Affairs, Dr. Adnan Al-Abdulkarim, said, “This nonstop step comes under direct supervision of His Excellency the Minister of Health Mr. Ahmad bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb, and in coordination with the MOH's Command and Control Center, in order to preserve health and safety of citizens and residents.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Al-Abdulkarim added that the violations committee has recorded several irregularities endangering lives of patients and visitors. “Such violations," according to Dr. Al-Abdulkarim, "are related to the level of sterilization as well as other irregularities at the emergency and intensive care units and operation rooms in a manner which violates standards and regulations of infection control.”
On his part, the Deputy Minister for Public Health and Head of the CCC, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Saeed, said, “These efforts coincide with the steps taken by the CCC to handle the expected seasonal increase of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases in the Kingdom, as indicated through epidemiological studies of outbreaks in recent years.”
It's worth mentioning here that The CCC is applying infection control guidelines against Coronavirus and Ebola in the health facilities. These guidelines were approved and circulated to all health affairs directorates in the provinces and regions, within the Center's efforts to combat the infectious diseases, such as MERS-COV and Ebola, and in continuation of the MOH's endeavors to bolster and support the improvement of all facets in the Saudi healthcare system needed to curb the spread of infectious diseases.
The MOH underlined the importance of prevention of infection and advised citizens and residents to adopt the following practices: Washing hands with water and soap, avoiding contact with Coronavirus cases, refraining from touching eyes or the nose, coughing in a tissue or putting your arm on the mouth when sneezing and then washing hands and the arm thoroughly, avoiding close contact with camels infected with respiratory symptoms and abiding by preventive measures when dealing with them. For more information, please visit
the MOH Portal.