The Ministry of Health (MoH) has gone tough on health violations in major cities such as Taif, Asir, Najran and Hail.

“We have to take these punitive measures in the interest of patients,” a senior official from the ministry told Arab News here.

In 2012, Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah introduced the “Patients First” program to provide quality health care services. Since then, hundreds of establishments have been fined or closed down.

In Taif, a pharmacy owner was fined SR52,000 for violating regulations, which included sale of expired pharmaceuticals, failure to renew the pharmacy license and absence of a computer at the pharmacy.

The MoH imposed a fine of SR5,000 on a pharmacy owner in Asir for a lack of qualified pharmacists at the health outlet.

He said the pharmacy was run by individuals who are not in possession of medical licenses.

An errant dentist in Najran was fined SR10,000 for not using disposable instruments at his clinic and for not having first-aid medicine available on the premises.

In Hail, the ministry dismissed a pediatrician who was treating patients above the age of 12 and revoked the doctor’s registration.

In November, it closed 34 medical facilities, including 10 pharmacies, due to health violations.

Dr. Ali Az-Zawawi, undersecretary of private sector facilities at the MoH, pointed out that in addition to employing 98,000 medical practitioners, the various directorates of health affairs oversee 130 private hospitals, 2,000 polyclinics and 7,000 pharmacies throughout the Kingdom.

The Health Ministry recently opened a helpline for members of the public to register complaints about medical errors and health violations in the Kingdom.

“Members of the public can make their complaints online or they can directly fax the details,” he said.

Online complaints can be filed at www.moh.gov.sa or by fax on 0112124196.

“The closure of these facilities came based on reports submitted by field inspection teams of the Directorate General of Health Affairs in the respective regions,” the official said.

He said the team conducts regular inspection of private facilities in the region to check the quality of services offered in ambulance services and operation theaters and to ascertain the professional suitability of medics and paramedics employed by these health institutions to ensure quality health care to patients.

He further warned that negligence and recklessness on the part of health care providers would not be tolerated by the government and that stern action will be taken against such violators based on the seriousness of the violations.

“We treat the private sector as strategic partners in providing health services to the people and we want them to offer quality services with a ‘patients first’ vision in their ventures,” the official said.

Az-Zawawi said that Dr. Al-Rabeeh values such partnership as strategic to take the health care services to new heights.

Last year, the MoH closed 30 medical complexes, 15 polyclinics, 29 pharmacies, 27 optical houses and five physiotherapy centers for violations.

During this period, the ministry also collected SR3.75 million in fines from such violators, which included SR1.98 million from pharmacies.