RIYADH, 13 October — Minister of Health Dr. Osama Shubokshi launched yesterday a directory for standardizing the medical procedures and practices to be followed by some 300 government hospitals in the Kingdom.
Use of the manual becomes mandatory with immediate effect. Dr. Shubokshi said it is the first time that his ministry has brought out such a directory in line with the requirements of the World Health Organization. Some 90 experts working under the supervision of the advisor to the minister of health produced the manual which incorporates the data on medical practices followed in Japan, Europe, the United States and other advanced countries.
The directory is divided into a number of sections including emergency, anesthesia, obstetrics and gynecology, rehabilitation, assisted reproduction, pediatrics, dentistry, ophthalmology, infection control and dermatology. For instance, in the section on emergency, it is stated that “unification of access to the emergency medical services in the Kingdom should be defined.”
The minister said different government hospitals in the Kingdom have been using their own medical procedures and practices which varied from one region to another. It had, therefore, become necessary to standardize the regulations in order to harmonize their operations. WHO had called for such a requirement.
Asked if the use of the directory would be extended to private hospitals and those run by other government organizations, the minister said they would be covered in the next phase. This is the second directory issued by the ministry. In 2000, the ministry had released a “Comprehensive Directory of Health Insurance.”
