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SAUDI ARABIA Shortly after establishing the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, one of the first initiatives of King Abdul Azia Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud was to improve the health care facilities for citizens and the pilgrims who come to Saudi Arabia to visit the Islamic holy sites. Another milestone in this same tradition was the government's decision to furnish free medical treatment. To achieve this goal, each administrative region in the Kingdom set up its own medical facilities and within a relatively short time, once-endemic diseases such as malaria and smallpox were virtually eradicated, the infant mortality rate was drastically reduced and life expectancy rose sharply.
THE SAUDI HEALTH CARE NETWORK To meet all of the health needs of Saudi Citizens from preventive care through advanced surgery, the Kingdom has implemented a two-tier health service plan. The first tier is a network of primary health care centers and clinics established throughout the country. The number of such facilities which provide preventive, prenatal, emergency, and basic health services, rose from 591 in 1970 to 3,154 in 1992. These centers are supplemented by a fleet of mobile clinics that routinely visit the more remote villages, dispensing vaccines and performing basic medical services. By reaching people throughout the country, these centers and clinics have contributed greatly to the improvement of health standards in the general public. They have been instrumental in reducing the infant mortality rate in the Kingdom from 68 per 1,000 births in 1980 to less than 30 per 1,000 in 1993. More than 94 percent of Saudi children are immunized against common diseases, and plans are underway to inoculate all of them.These centers and clinics are backed by a network of advanced hospitals and specialized treatment facilities. Strategically placed in major urban areas throughout the country to be accessible to all, they constitute the second tier of the Saudi health plan. In 1970, there were 74 hospitals with 9,039 beds in Saudi Arabia. By the beginning of 1993, those numbers had grown to 274 and 41,151, respectively. With a population of 16.9 million, Saudi Arabia's ratio of one hospital bed per 411 people is among the lowest in the world. The Ministry of Health bears primary responsibility for the Kingdom's health care program. It operates 62 percent of the country's hospitals and 53 percent of its health care clinics and centers. Of the remaining hospitals and clinics, the majority are operated by the private sector. The functions of these facilities and the training of their staff are supervised and supported by the Ministry of Health. Other government agencies, such as the Ministry of Education and Defense, the National Guard and the Public Security Administration have their own hospitals and clinics. Under the Fifth Development Plan (1990-94), the Ministry of Health administered 13.92 US dollars in government appropriations for the health sector. The funds were used for the establishment of new facilities and improving the health care of existing ones. The Kingdom's commitment to raising the quality of health service provided to its citizens is reflected in the fact that while the number of hospitals and primary health care clinics and centers rose fivefold between 1970 and the beginning of 1993, the number of physicians employed by these facilities rose 21 fold to 26, 151. The nursing and technical staff grew 16 fold to 53, 876 and 28, 320, respectively. The qualitative improvement in Saudi health care is also evident by the number of specialized hospitals now operating in the Kingdom. Two decades ago, most hospitals only offered general services. By 1993, of the 170 hospitals operated by the Ministry of Health, 16 specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, seven in treating respiratory ailments, 16 in psychiatric care, two in eye diseases, one in contagious diseases and six were convalescent facilities. Riyadh has become the Kingdom's capital for specialized health care, a trend that began when the King Faisal Specialist Hospital become the first facility in the country to pioneer specialized treatment at home. Today, the facility is a leading hospital in the Middle East and a premier research center in the region. The 533 million dollar King Fahd Medical City is of the largest medical facilities in the Middle East. The complex consists of five hospitals, including general, children's and psychiatric centers, among other facilities, with 1,484 beds. It also has extensive outpatient facilities and provides housing for approximately 3,000 employees. The Kingdom has one of the world's largest and best equipped eye hospitals, the King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital. Established in 1983, the hospital treated 590,000 outpatients and admitted more than 60,000 patients by 1993. A total of 84,000 surgical operations, including cornea transplants and laser procedures, was performed during the its first decade. An integrated medical city occupying a square mile of land in northwest Riyadh, the hospital has 50 fully-equipped examination rooms, 12 state-of-the-art operating theaters and 263 beds. The facility employs more than 1,500 physicians, nurses, technicians and support staff. In 1988, the hospital established a program to train ophthalmologists. By 1993, a total of 43 Saudis had graduated from the program and another 33 were working towards their degrees. In 1993, a third Saudi hospital specializing in open heart surgery and other sophisticated heart operations was opened in Makkah. Built with funds donated by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, the Al-Noor Specialist Hospital Heart Center was established with the technical support of the King Fahd Hospital Heart Center (KFHHC) in Jeddah, the Saudi Heart Foundation, and the Ministry of Health. The specialists at the new facilities were trained at the KFHHC and the King Abdul Aziz College of Medicine. Since its establishment in 1982, the KFHCC has performed more than 6,000 open heart surgeries. Teams of surgeons from the center also performed 750 open heart procedures in less developed nations and helped set up heart centers in Albania and Chad in 1994. In addition to major hospitals, medical colleges and universities also conduct basic health research. Many institutes have made striking advances with potential benefits that reach well beyond Saudi Arabia. The research center at King Saud University's School of Pharmacology, for example has developed new drugs, notably one for diabetes. The government subsidizes medications, which are readily available to patients and cost less than in most countries. It also encourages Saudi companies to manufacture pharmaceuticals and supports their efforts. King Abdul Aziz University is also a center for advanced medical research, and King Saud University's College of Science is using radioactive isotopes to determine the affect of antibiotics on bodily functions. At King Khalid University Hospital, scientists are testing whether indigenous medicinal plants could help in treating cancer. These and other Saudi universities play a vital role in training physicians, nurses and staff needed to run the country's vast health care systems. In 1993, 6,248 Saudi students were studying at medical colleges in the Kingdom and a further 6,022 were pursuing studies in nursing and medical technology. Dentistry is another growing field in the Kingdom. At the beginning of 1993, there were 1,150 dental clinics and 11 specialized dental hospitals. An additional 150 mobile dental clinics were used to service residents of remote villages. An important role in health care is played by the Saudi Red Crescent Society, which functions like the Red Cross, providing first aid and emergency medical services. The society operates 141 medical centers and branches throughout the country, and has four mobile clinics and more than 500 ambulances and medical evacuation helicopters. It also plays a special part in caring for the millions of Muslim pilgrims during the annual Hajj or pilgrimage to the holy sites in Makkah and Madinah. In 1993, the society set up 120 health care stations staffed by approximately 1,400 doctors, nurses, and technicians as well as hundreds of support personnel, for the pilgrims. The treatment and rehabilitation of the mentally and physically handicapped is a priority of the Saudi health and social services system. Over the past two decades, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs have established a network of rehabilitation centers for the handicapped. These facilities fall into two categories. The first offers services for medical, physical and mental treatment and rehabilitation of patients and is operated or supervised by the Ministry of Health. There are currently 18 such centers. The second group of centers focuses on the social rehabilitation of the handicapped and is run by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. There are presently 14 centers throughout the country that teach the mentally and physically impaired social, educational, and vocational skills designed to help them enter society as independents, productive individuals. There are also 24 special education institutes for the blind and deaf in Saudi Arabia and three centers for handicapped children. Key Contacts: Ministry of Health Related Links: Embassy of Saudi Arabia (Health Profile) Saudi Healthcare System Protects Children
Sources: Information Office, The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
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Beginning
with the introduction of the first of the five-year Development Plans in 1970,
the Saudi health care system underwent a dramatic quantitative and qualitative
improvement. Even as the modern network of health care and social services
was expanded across the entire country, technology was continually updated to
incorporate the latest medical advances. Today, Saudi Arabians have access
to a network of thousand of hospitals and clinics across the country and are no
longer obligated to travel abroad to obtain specialized medical treatment.
Sophisticated surgical procedures such as open heart surgery and organ
transplants are routinely performed in various Saudi hospitals to the highest
international standards.