JEDDAH: Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said yesterday that the government plans to make radical changes to the health care system in the Kingdom.
“We are now in the process of introducing what is globally known as a culture of family and community medicine replacing the primary health care system,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as saying.
Al-Manie said more than 2,000 family and community medicine clinics will be established across the country as part of the new strategy to improve health services in the country.
“Our aim is to provide high quality services and bring radical changes into the primary health care system,” he said.
“Family and community medicine centers will become an important part of a strategy aimed at developing health services in the Kingdom in general and basic health care in particular,” Al-Manie said.
“A doctor for each family” is the slogan of the new health care system, he said, adding that his ministry had already decided to implement the new program that will provide preventive health care, treatment and rehabilitation.
He said the distribution of family medicine centers would be based on population and geography. “There will be a doctor for every 2,000 to 3,000 people and the doctor will make at least four visits to each resident annually,” he explained.
He said the new program would be implemented at three levels: family medicine units, family medicine centers and supervisory centers.
The supervisory centers will have a number of medical specialists and technicians and will provide consultancy, diagnosis and treatment services to centers and units under them.
Supervisory centers, to be established within an area of 30 kilometers, will operate around the clock. They will have ambulances to transport emergency cases. Hospitals having fewer than 50 beds could be developed into supervisory centers after providing them with family doctors.
Al-Manie said the family clinics would provide services such as vaccination, mother care and childcare. They will take care of patients suffering from chronic diseases and the elderly. Such centers will be established in areas with a population of more than 1,000 people while family medicine units will be established to serve fewer than 1,000 people.
The minister said the new health development plan included a national fund to provide health insurance cover to Saudis. The state fund will be financed through the general budget and state will pay the insurance policy. “A study in this respect has been presented to higher authorities for approval,” he said, adding that the study was based on the experiences of 12 countries.
Al-Manie disclosed plans to establish an independent commission to ensure quality health services in the Kingdom. The new health plan includes converting government hospitals into public corporations that will operate commercially. Directorates of health affairs in the Kingdom’s 13 regions will have separate budgets and a health council will be established in each region.
He said the new national health laboratory, which was established at a cost of SR320 million, would be operational next year. He said the ministry was targeting 41 diseases including contagious ones. The number of government hospitals increased to 225 last year with a total of 31,420 beds while the number of nurses rose to 44,395.
