The Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Vision Realization Office (VRO) with the private sector participation, studied and introduced its first corporatization project in the medical imaging and radiation services. MOH estimated the expected investment of private sector participation by 250 million riyals during the first ten years. The Ministry has completed the regulatory and legislative requirements in order to obtain the necessary approvals for the implementation of the Radiology Pilot Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project with the private sector through a special program supervised by VRO. This partnership will start in seven hospitals, serving 1 million beneficiaries and running by 470 technical and nursing staff at radiology departments.
The partnership will also establish the first tele-radiography service to serve the targeted hospitals, which will interconnect the hospitals included in the project, which King Fahad Medical City will play the hub role. The first project includes three hospitals in Riyadh, namely: King Fahad Medical City, Prince Mohammed Bin Abdul Aziz Hospital, and Al-Yamamah Hospital, in addition to King Khaled Hospital in Al-Majmaah, Al-Dawadmi General Hospital, Al-Zulfi General Hospital and Al-Artawiyah General Hospital.
This project is an opportunity to build an integrated system that forms the digital infrastructure for the development of radiology departments in various hospitals. Some hospitals require electronic systems and electronic Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS). Therefore, MOH targets reliable international partners to develop the infrastructure of digital imaging sector to provide a high-quality service to beneficiaries.
According to the project plan, it is expected from this partnership with the private sector to invest in the operation of radiology and nuclear medicine departments in the selected hospitals with modern devices (e.g. MRI, CT, NMI, and others), in addition to the use of existing devices more efficiently to overcome utilization and availability problems. The number of radiographic equipment in the seven targeted hospitals exceeds 150. The private sector will also invest in new solutions, such as teleradiology, mobile radiology, and other solutions.
The project will provide beneficiaries with greater accessibility, in addition to ensuring the efficiency and quality of services that will achieve patient satisfaction. Furthermore, the radiology workforce will have greater opportunities in the training and development programs, as these programs will be held under the umbrella and supervision of the Saudi Board at the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS); in order to reach a professional culture of work in all radiology departments covered by the contract. The sector will also avail the outstanding global operational expertise in such partnerships.
It is noted that the private sector partnership in radiography is the first partnership of MOH through its VRO.