RIYADH: Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie has instructed that special committees on the rights of patients be established in all the ministry’s hospitals and health centers throughout the Kingdom with the aim of improving the health care services being provided to citizens and expatriates.
Local dailies yesterday published a press statement by Dr. Yacoub ibn Youssif Al-Mazrouei, assistant undersecretary for curative medicine at the ministry, in which he said the committees would see to it that all patients were satisfied with the services provided to them by the general hospitals and medical centers.
The statement said the minister underlined the importance of the directors of hospitals or medical centers heading the committees so that they will be answerable to a higher committee that works directly with the minister himself.
According to Al-Mazrouei, the committees will submit periodic reports about the concerned hospital’s performance to the minister.
Each of these committees will, in addition to its chairman, comprise the medical director, social and psychological specialists, and an official in charge of patient relations, a quality control specialist and officials in charge of information, public relations and training at each facility.
The minister appointed Dr. Khaled Al-Mirghalani, director of information and public relations at the ministry, as chairman of the higher committee.
Al-Mirghalani said the committees would implement a program approved by the minister recently to improve the way patients are handled. He added that the committee would consider complaints and suggestions by patients concerning the quality of the service being provided to them.
