The Shoura panel is making the visit on the invitation of Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, Health Ministry Spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani said on Friday.

The delegation will be led by Abdullah Al-Asheikh and his deputies Mohammed bin Amin Jefri and Fahd bin Hamad, who succeeded former Vice Chairman Bandar Al-Hajjar, who was appointed minister of Haj, and its former Deputy Chairman Abdul Rahman Al-Barrak, who is the minister of the civil service. The members of the Environment and Health Affairs committee of the Shoura will also be members of the team.

The health minister will brief the Shoura delegation on the strategic plan of the ministry for the next 10 years. “The visiting delegates will also be apprised of the national project for health care integrated and comprehensive services that is carried out with a note of maintaining the principles of justice and equality among health care beneficiaries in the Kingdom.”

The spokesman said the program would also include a presentation of the projects of the ministry on the upcoming new medical cities and existing hospitals and specialized medical centers that serve the people throughout the Kingdom. “Most prominent health programs implemented by the ministry such as medicine and domestic relations program and the rights of patients and family management program and e-health programs will also be included in the presentation,” Al-Mirghalani said.

He said the meeting between the Shoura Council members and the senior ministry officials is being arranged on an initiative from the health minister, who is interested in keeping the consultative council informed of the progressive steps taken by his ministry toward the achievement of national goals.

During the year 2010, MOH reported zero cases of diphtheria, pertussis because of its successful vaccination campaign. The rate of infection in diphtheria and whooping cough decreased to zero per 100,000 people, while the incidence of tetanus neonatorum dropped to 0.01 and meningitis to 0.01. Measles fell to 1.29, rubella to 0.13, and hepatitis (B) to 18.72 per 100,000 people compared to 20.43 in 2008.

On a directive from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, recently, Health Minister Al-Rabeeah inked two agreements for consultancy and design of the King Abdullah Medical City in the western region and the King Khalid Medical City in the Eastern Province. The king allocated SR16 billion for the construction of new medical cities in the Kingdom.

According to the Statistical Yearbook for 1431, 66 million patient visits have been recorded in all the health facilities during 2010, while 450,183 surgeries and 265,626 childbirths were recorded in the ministry’s maternal wards.

Around 1.7 million patients were admitted in the ministry’s hospitals, 142 million laboratory tests were carried out and 5 million radiographic examinations were performed. Some 19 million emergency cases were treated in the hospitals and primary health care centers, according to the report.