JEDDAH, 19 February 2007 — Plans are under way to transform government hospitals in the Kingdom into public corporations in order to operate them commercially and improve health services, according to Dr. Khaled Al-Mirghalani, spokesman for the Health Ministry.
He said the project, which has been finalized by the ministry, would cost SR10 billion. “We have already presented the project to higher authorities for approval and it is currently being studied by the Higher Committee for Administrative Reorganization,” he said.
Under the project, government hospitals would be separated from the ministry and brought under boards of directors, which would manage them commercially, applying modern operational methods. He said the project would cover all the 200 hospitals under ministry control.
Investments in the Kingdom’s private and public health sectors are estimated at SR500 billion with an annual expenditure of some SR50 billion. The sector is projected to grow not less than 10 percent in the coming 10 years.
Mirghalani allayed fears from staff currently working in government hospitals, saying they would be transferred to the new corporations. “These corporations will be given wide powers to recruit qualified personnel and control revenues and expenditures,” he said.
The project was prepared by Dr. Rida Khaleel, adviser to the health minister, with the support of 50 experts in order to improve public hospital services, overcome bureaucratic procedures and solve the financial problems they face.
In the 200 ministry hospitals, there are 28,500 beds, 17,448 doctors, 900 pharmacists, 36,710 nurses and 18,723 support staff. Of the total number of 34,600 doctors at private and public hospitals 22 percent are Saudi. The sector also employs 5,530 pharmacists, 68,089 nurses and 40,000 support staff.
The ministry’s executive bylaw, which was issued in 2003, allows it to sell and rent some of its hospitals to private investors or companies. However, any proposal regarding hospital privatization by the health minister must be approved by the Cabinet. The privatization, “can be carried out either by selling a hospital or renting it to a private investor or a company or changing it into a corporation owned by the state and run on a commercial basis,” the bylaw said. However, the law insists that such privatization moves should not disrupt public health services in the country or reduce the quality of services or make them prohibitively expensive.
According to the law, expatriate workers will receive government health services in accordance with the Cooperative Health Insurance Scheme, which is currently being applied to the country’s seven million guest workers. The law makes the government responsible for providing health services to foreign pilgrims during the Haj season.
