The MOH Initiatives Related to the NTP 2020 and Saudi Vision 2030
The Ministry of Health (MOH) is seeking to launch several health initiatives related to the National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020 and the Saudi Vision 2030, which come as part of its series of initiatives (totaling more than 40), scheduled to be announced later. It has become necessary for us to introduce a new health system that fully accommodates our current and future needs, and to be based on non-traditional methods in terms of financing, managing, evaluating and developing it. Therefore, the most important components of the health transformation is the institutionalization of this system, as well as redrafting the method of finance, so as to be independent and flexible depending on payment against service not on the budget system, in an endeavor to increase the effectiveness of the exerted efforts and finance. The establishment of this system must be compatible with the current data, meanwhile prospecting for the future data, to come up with a healthy system that meets all our needs for years to come and maintains the health and safety of everyone.
The MOH has carried out many achievements across its different sectors and services over the past period. As for the primary healthcare domain, which is reckoned the most important component in our health system, more than 80 primary healthcare centers have been inaugurated all over the Kingdom, bringing the total number to more than 2,390 healthcare centers for providing the services of primary healthcare and vaccinations, as well as dealing with chronic diseases and maternity and children care to more than 52 million patients. During the past year, more than 2 million persons have been vaccinated against influenza, and the number of health centers working for 16 hours a day increased by 100%. Thus, we have a number of 152 health centers working with the extended system and a number of 498 on-call centers, and the emergency care centers increased by 50%, bringing the total number to 107 centers. Besides, the number of counseling clinics which provide primary mental healthcare has been doubled to reach 55 clinics and counseling clinics have been added to 82 health centers throughout the Kingdom's regions, in addition to that anti-smoking clinics that increased by 160% to reach 160 clinics. Also, a number of 55 healthcare centers have obtained the accreditation certificate on the quality of healthcare services from the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institute (CBAHI).
The health sector has witnessed over the current year the launch of the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Project, with the participation of 9,300 medical and healthcare teams from healthcare centers. This project targets around 50,000 families across the different regions of the Kingdom, with a view to developing an accurate database about the health status in the Kingdom.
Regarding the public health programs, the MOH keeps on the implementation of several programs and activities, such as the education health campaigns and the health promotion campaigns that witnessed the interaction of more than 3 million targeted persons and covered many important health topics, including those health awareness campaigns about diabetes, breast cancer detection, colon cancer, breast cancer, malaria, influenza, kidneys, tuberculosis, heart, arthritis, osteoporosis, antibiotics, AIDS and others. Also, the MOH has exerted great efforts to improve the work mechanism of the 937 center, whereas more than 100,000 medical consultations have been provided, in addition to more than 15,000 medical consultations via social media platforms.
As for the therapeutic services domain, we have more than 279 hospitals (with more than 42,000-bed capacity), receiving more than 16 million patients at their outpatient clinics annually, while emergency sections receive more than 18 million emergency cases and 21 million injuries. Furthermore, the MOH's hospitals have conducted more than 500,000 surgeries and more than 240,000 deliveries, in addition to the achievements of the Newborn Early Screening Program (NNSP). Over the past four years, a number of 720,000 cases have been detected, of which a number of 622 cases were in need of therapeutic intervention, and the rate of hearing tests increased by 89% and that of newborn cardiac screenings by 90%. Yet, there are other achievements which focused on raising the operational efficiency and developing the administrative performance and work environment, as well as qualifying the cadres of various specialties and categories. Over and above, work is constantly underway to keep pace with the ever-increasing need for healthcare services, in terms of quantity and quality.