JEDDAH, 5 October 2005 — Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie formally opened a new primary health care center in Al-Hamra district on Monday.
The Al-Hamra facility provides a new concept in health care, offering treatment, preventive and rehabilitation services to patients as well as skills development services for health care professionals. It operates with a fully computerized system of patient data entry.
The minister was taken on a tour of the facility and shown its capabilities. Sixty similar centers have began operating this year around the Kingdom.
The minister said: “We have allocated SR6.5 billion for establishing 2,000 similar health centers around the Kingdom within the next five years and all will be connected electronically.”
After the tour of the facility, he spoke about the importance of the “Loved You Before You Were Born” program — sponsored by Modern Products Company (Pampers) — and the ministry’s strong support for initiatives that produce partnerships between the private and public sectors.
“The objectives of the program are to educate and create awareness among pregnant women about what is necessary for a problem-free pregnancy so that she and her baby can enjoy a healthy life. The program also includes information about matters related to motherhood, breastfeeding, sending SMS messages to women reminding them of important matters related to their pregnancy,” said Dr. Khalid Merghalani, health information and PR supervisor at the Ministry of Health.
This program was launched as a primary reference point for rearing children and educating mothers with the aim of reaching 50 percent of the women before and after pregnancy and reaching 80 percent of females after delivery. This program will interact continuously with mothers through multiple channels that include mail, SMS messages, e-mails as well as a dedicated 800 number — 800 244 6660.
“What is unique about this program compared to previous ones is that this one focuses on the mother-child relationship,” said Dr. Noha Dashash, assistant director of the primary health care department at the Jeddah Health Affairs Department. “This program focuses on the emotional state of the pregnant woman and how that affects her unborn baby, including how often she reads and talks with baby,” said Dr. Dashash.
The woman is urged to visit a health care center as soon as she is pregnant and is entered into a database and given a membership card which allows health care professionals to be in contact with her and offer her courses and lectures as well as home visits by the sponsoring company. The program will continue its contact with the woman for five years after delivery.
“This is in the pilot stage at 10 health care centers around the country and then we will evaluate the program and see what needs to be improved. The program will then be launched at all primary health care centers in urban and rural areas. The sponsoring company will also provide an antenatal follow-up card with the most updated recommendations by the World Health Organization,” said Dr. Dashash.
Arab News asked the minister about the decision to increase security in public hospitals by installing more surveillance cameras and establishing independent security units in all health and hospital administrations which will all be connected to the hospital manager and the police. He explained, “We care about the safety and care of our patients and we also take their privacy into consideration and only install cameras in hallways and other public areas.”
