Mobilizing the new fleet of ambulances, Deputy Health Minister for Executive Affairs Mansour Al-Hawasi said that the program, launched in 2008, currently serves around 5,000 patients who find it difficult to travel to the nearest health facilities.
Al-Hawasi revealed that chronic diseases accounted for a quarter of the total cases treated by the home health-care program.
He pointed out that diseases related to nerves, trauma and strokes accounted for a third, psychiatric and neurological diseases 18 percent, followed by age-related diseases at 12 percent and wounds, bed sores and diabetic-related diseases at 8 percent.
“Cancer cases are the lowest in the scale at two percent,” he added.
The deputy minister said the existing fleet of ambulances has another 80 state-of-the-art vehicles following instructions from Health Minister Dr. Abullah Al-Rabeeah, who is keen on serving home-based patients in a satisfactory manner.
Dr. Naser Al-Hazeem, supervisor general of the program, said that it provides other services such as palliative care for cancer patients and those with chronic diseases, as well as advanced renal and cardiac cases.
Hazeem said the program aimed to reduce the number of such patients at emergency rooms in various health facilities in the Kingdom. “Our qualified medical team visiting homes provide curative, preventive and rehabilitative treatment and educate the patients on their ailments,” he said.
