RIYADH, 20 November — The Council of Ministers has decided to allocate SR600 million annually over the next five years as part of the government’s effort to encourage Saudis to pursue higher education in medicine, pharmacology and computer science abroad.
This was disclosed to Arab News by Dr. Mohammed Hassan Mufti, director general of the Security Forces Hospital, who said the Kingdom’s hospitals are now offering training programs leading to academic degrees and specialized fellowships. Such programs were non-existent in the past and were sought overseas.
There are now 18 health institutes for boys and a similar number for girls in the Kingdom, as well as 13 colleges of medicine. Of these, seven colleges have been assigned for male students and six for females.
Saudi Arabia, Dr. Mufti said, achieved phenomenal progress in the health care sector during the reign of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd. There are now 332 hospitals in the Kingdom, with a total capacity of 46,480 beds. Of these, 192 hospitals, with a bed strength of 28,195, are run by the Ministry of Health, and 40 belong to various ministries and governmental organizations. The number of public health centers stands at 1,785.
According to Dr. Mufti, who is also the author of a book on the health insurance scheme, the Kingdom’s track record on providing health care to its citizens has won international recognition.
The WHO report for 2000, for example, has ranked Saudi Arabia 26th among the 30 leading countries in the world in terms of providing health care to their citizens.
He said that in the WHO ranking of 191 countries, the US was placed 37th and Russia way down at 137. However, a ringing endorsement of the Kingdom’s achievement in the health care was provided by the WHO’s nomination of King Fahd for its prestigious prize for the Kingdom’s anti-smoking campaign. The theme of the campaign for the international competition was “Toward Clean Air”.
It cited in particular Saudi Arabia’s declaration of Makkah and Madinah as smoking-free cities. The WHO, according to Dr. Nasser ibn Abdulrahman Al-Hamdan, deputy chairman of the Anti-Smoking Society, recognized the Kingdom’s role in combating smoking not only in the eastern Mediterranean region but also at the international level.
The Ministry of Health opened 10 anti-smoking clinics in Riyadh to mark the World No-Smoking Day on May 31 last year. With this, the number of anti-smoking clinics in the Kingdom rose to 50, underlining its firm resolve to deter the growing tendency of its people who smoke some 15 billion cigarettes annually.
Dr. Mufti said Saudi Arabia had scored success by eradicating polio through its 100 percent immunization coverage.
As for other infectious diseases like mumps, measles and rubella, the Kingdom had provided over 90 percent vaccination coverage during 1998-2000.
He said that the government has accorded high priority to the health sector, for which this year’s budget allocated SR21.9 billion for health services and social development, 10 percent more than last year. As a result, 30 new hospitals will be constructed as part of a further upgrade of medical services.
A strong indicator pointing to the advancement of medical services in the Kingdom is seen from the fact that only 33 cases were sent abroad for treatment during 1997. In cases of organ transplantation, the patients had to go abroad because there was a lack of donors, he said.
Referring to the bed strength/population ratio, Dr. Mufti said the ratio for the number of beds to the population in the hospitals run by the Ministry of Health stands at 1.44 beds for every 1,000 population.
This ratio goes up to 2.33 beds for every 1,000 people if the entire medical sector, including the private sector, is taken into account.
In some developed countries like the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Canada, the ratio reaches 6.2 beds per 1,000 population. He said cities like Alkhobar, Dhahran, Najran, Baha and Qassim come close to this international average with a ratio ranging from 4.3 to 6.2 beds per 1,000 population.
However, the figure climbs still higher if evaluated on the basis of health care services provided during the Haj and Umrah seasons. During last Haj, the ministry operated 224 temporary and permanent health centers, of which Makkah alone had 27 permanent centers and 69 temporary health care facilities.
