A number of Jeddah residents have called on the Ministry of Health and the Directorate of Health Affairs in the governorate to increase the number of health centers in its neighbourhoods. Speaking to Arab News, they criticized what they considered to be a lack of services in health centres, in addition to the low number of qualified technical and health personnel. Indeed, many citizens are forced to go to private clinics or hospitals for treatment even though they can't afford the high costs associated with these places.

Nabil Zare called on the relevant health authorities to provide basic services in health centres, and to impose more control on institutions to monitor conduct violations. He pointed out that the spread of pharmacies inside residential areas foiled the role of public health and the importance of their presence in these neighborhoods. He also was concerned about the absence of land to establish health centers inside residential areas, saying most neighborhoods have a mosque, a garden and a school, but no health center.

"I don’t think it's difficult to set up a health center that works around the clock and bears the role of educating people in addition to treating people. This will ease pressure from major hospitals," he said.

Turki Abdullah noted that it is important to provide people with suitable health services, saying that patients go to pharmacies instead of health centers because of their small numbers. Sometimes when they go to hospital, they can only get a late appointment.

Others, such as Nawwaf Suleiman and Hassan Al-Abdali, said that health centers have decrepit buildings and are located far away from most residents. Beyond this, the men added that they often have a long and tedious appointment process.

Ahmad Al-Alyani commented that health care services are improving, but that some hospitals don’t have sufficiently qualified staff, while others suffer from a lack of medication and beds, in addition to poor hygiene standards.

Abdulrahman Al-Sahafi, press spokesman for the health directorate in Jeddah, told Arab News that Jeddah has more than 150 health centers distributed according to population density and needs of neighborhoods. He added that the issue of increasing these centers requires a detailed study, which will take some time.