Hospitals at the Ministry of Health have been connected electronically, said Sami Badawood, director-general of Jeddah Health Affairs.
“Government hospitals have also been linked with the Health Ministry’s branch in Riyadh,” he added.
“We are in the process of linking private hospitals for the safety of patients,” he said, pointing out that medical errors or mistakes will reach the ministry in Riyadh on the spot. “The ministry will then take punitive measures.”
The Health Ministry will dispatch a specialized team to questionable locations for evaluation and conduct further discussions on ways to prevent such mistakes from recurring, said Badawood.
Badawood said that health services offered by the ministry in the Kingdom are still fledging in terms of quality and risk management in comparison with its counterparts in other countries. He made the statement during a convention on “Patient safety, Quality and Risk management” organized by King Abdul-Aziz Hospital.
“Our ministry has made great achievements in the area of healthcare. There are already three hospitals in Jeddah that acquired quality accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), a commission that evaluates hospitals worldwide.”
He said that hospitals with 100 to 200 beds are stepping up efforts to acquire approval via the Central Council for the Accreditation of Health Institutions, a minimized standard of the JCI.
“The first step taken by the Saudi Health Ministry is qualifying trainees in the field of patient safety, quality and risk management to disseminate a culture of patient safety and quality between health workers in the different sectors,” explained Badawood.
“Very few states recorded incidents of the coronavirus. This is why the Saudi Health Ministry only conducted a survey among pilgrims suffering from high fever or flu. Such pilgrims will be closely monitored.”
More than 620 members at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah will work around the clock.
“All pilgrims coming from infected regions will get a vaccine shot. There is a plan in place with the World Health Organization to follow up disease outbreak and distribution maps,” he added.
Around 250,000 pilgrims have reached the country so far through Jeddah’s airport, he said. “They were all provided with comprehensive health services. Free-of-charge vaccinations will be given to pilgrims,” he concluded.
“Not a single epidemic has been recorded between pilgrims so far,” he said.
Government hospitals monitored electronically for medical errors
