JEDDAH, 9 December — The Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Saud Foundation has developed an Internet health site through its MeduNet program that allows physicians and other health professionals to access at one location up-to-the-minute medical news, e-mail, job database and medical literature in the Kingdom. This portal can be accessed at http://www.health.net.sa, according to a foundation press release.
Since the launch of HealthNet six months ago, more than 10,000 physicians in the Kingdom have access to the customized tools and resources. The site features MedLine, a medical database form the National Institutes of Health, which is hosted on servers at MeduNet.
MeduNet has developed a powerful search engine allowing users to quickly and efficiently search the databases for the most recent articles and information. Registered users can even save their entire search histories, providing a way to run the same search again in the future.
Other HealthNet features include timely medical news stories from Reuters Medical News, weekly news features highlighting new medical developments, a JobFinder database of career opportunities, such as job openings at the Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz Humanitarian City, specialty areas with vital links to medical journals and associations, access to MDConsult — a rich source of medical information for physicians, access to hundreds of continuing medical information (CME) classes, medical dictionary and drug database and personal e-mail accounts.
Future development of HealthNet will provide the ability to link doctors together through interactive chats, message boards and ultimately real-time "grand rounds" where medical issues are discussed and viewed with videoconferencing over the Internet. By allowing physicians in the Kingdom to talk with other professionals around the globe, HealthNet will significantly contribute to the goal of improving health care in the Kingdom.
"HealthNet is a tool that provides expanded access to medical education and resources throughout the Kingdom. Over the next few months, HealthNet will continue to grow rapidly as more content, tools and features are added — all created with the Saudi medical professional in mind," the statement added.