Center for disease prevention and control to be set up

The Kingdom will set up a national center for disease prevention and control.
“The National Center for Disease Prevention and Control aims at monitoring, reducing and preventing the spread of infectious and noninfectious diseases,” Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja said quoting a decision taken by the Council of Ministers yesterday.
Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, chaired the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.
Khoja said the tasks of the center include conducting research, studies and scientific experiments in the field of health, prevention and the control of noncommunicable diseases.
It will monitor communicable and noncommunicable diseases on the national and international levels and will create a database of its own.
It will also draw up plans and strategies for immediate intervention in cases of epidemics and disasters that affect public health.
The Cabinet instituted five medals carrying the names of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and former rulers King Saud, King Faisal, King Khaled and King Fahd. The medals in three levels will be awarded annually in specific fields on the occasion of the National Day of the Kingdom. The ministries, government bodies and national organizations will nominate their candidates for the medals.
The Cabinet condemned the recent bombings at the French Embassy in Libya. “The Kingdom’s stance is to reject any aggression on any diplomatic mission across the world, irrespective of differences, in view of the inviolability and immunity granted to diplomatic envoys under the international laws and treaties,” Khoja said in his statement to the Saudi Press Agency.
The Cabinet authorized the governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority or his deputy to sign a draft agreement between the Kingdom and the government of Japan on the encouragement and protection of mutual investments.
The Cabinet also approved the memorandum of understanding between the Kingdom and Malaysia for scientific and technological cooperation, which was signed in Kuala Lumpur in December 2011.
The Council of Ministers also endorsed the appointment of Fahd Al-Misained as member of the Board of Directors of the General Organization for Grain Silos and Flour Mills as the representative of the Ministry of Finance.
The Cabinet lauded the royal decision to establish 22 medical projects at the cost of SR 15.1 billion and the opening of the 500-bed Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz Hospital in Riyadh, in addition to the construction of the 650-bed King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center at a new location in Jeddah.
The meeting confirmed the appointment of Saleh Al-Amry as mechanic consultant at the Ministry of Defense, Emad Adaham as minister plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Fahd Al-Meheizae as director general of education in the Jeddah governorate, Aidhah bin Mohammed bin Ayda Al-Khedaidi as director general for financial control and projects follow-up at the Control and Investigation Board and Maeed Al-Zahrani as director general of the branch of the Control and Investigation Board in Madinah.