RIYADH, 3 June 2007 — Saudi Arabia will soon revamp its primary health system and establish new centers across the Kingdom, providing specific departments in family medicine, the Ministry of Health announced here yesterday. The implementation of the new plan will begin in the Al-Jouf region in two months’ time and will then shift to other parts of the Kingdom.
According to the ministry, the decision to revamp the health system has been made due to a rise in many chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart as well as nutrition problems.
“This has caused an urgent need to reconsider the primary health system in the Kingdom,” said Dr. Obeid Al-Obeid, deputy minister for planning and development. The minister also said that as part of the revamp, the ministry would soon implement a nationwide program entitled “A Family Medical Doctor for Every Family.”
Under the new program, each Saudi family in the Kingdom will be assigned a special doctor in a primary health center. Al-Obeid said that in other countries of the world, the ratio of family doctors per family is between 1: 1,500 and 1: 2,000. “Currently in the Kingdom, the ratio is 1: 4,000, but we intend to bring it down to 1: 400,” said Al-Obeid.
“The program will focus on increasing the number of current primary health care centers and increasing the majors in family medicine,” he said. Physicians specializing in nutrition, psychology and counseling will be available in the new primary health centers.
Al-Obeid said that the ministry was cooperating with several Arab countries such as Egypt, Sudan, and Tunisia where Saudis could study family medicine for one year and return to the Kingdom. He added that there are now 10,000 medical workers in the Kingdom ready to go ahead with the program. “The minister has assigned 12 committees to study the implementation of the new primary health plan,” he said, adding that the new plan would be announced in the GCC Family Medicine Symposium to be held in the capital tomorrow. Over 500 medical personnel including family medicine doctors will attend the event.
