RIYADH, 9 May 2006 — Prince Muqrin, chief of the General Intelligence and chairman of the Saudi Association for Health Informatics (SAHI), inaugurated the first-ever e-health conference in Riyadh yesterday.
Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie, Communications and Information Technology Minister Muhammad Jameel Mulla, Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari, WHO’s Director General for the Region Hussein Jezairy and National Guard Health Affairs Director Abdullah Al-Rabeeah addressed the gathering. The National Guard Health Affairs, in cooperation with SAHI, sponsored the two-day event.
Inaugurating the conference, Prince Muqrin said the seminar targets members of the medical community to help them keep abreast of the technological advances made in the field. SAHI will prepare a road map for e-health programs in the Kingdom, he said, adding that a special team will be assigned to do the preparatory work.
The prince also inaugurated an exhibition focused on the theme.
Al-Manie said e-health would facilitate research in related fields. The Kingdom is on the right road to keep pace with the global developments that are taking place in the field of electronic communications, he said.
Jezairy noted that the conference includes policy setting, monitoring and evaluation, networking and communication, infrastructure development, electronic publishing and development and maintenance of systems.
The event has attracted more than 600 delegates including top officials in health care services as well as medics and paramedics, Majid Al-Tuwaijri, chairman of the conference, told Arab News.
He pointed out that SAHI has made a maiden attempt to keep the local medics informed of the new trends and latest technologies in e-health. “The program was also aimed at creating opportunities for networking, exchange of experience and sharing knowledge in the field of health care informatics,” he said.
Mohammed Alyemeni, assistant professor of health information systems and hospital administration at King Saud University, said the Kingdom is at a decisive point in its investment in health care delivery.
“The scientific revolution during the past century, coupled with a substantial increase in the national budget and the shift toward privatization, had set the stage for a dramatic alleviation of human suffering from diseases,” said Alyemeni.
