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Ministry
of Health
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |
About
MOH |
Ministry
of Health, KSA
The government of Saudi Arabia gives the
health sector high priority in order to provide all Saudi
citizens with free, high standard health care. The principal
objective of the Ministry of Health (MOH) is to provide a
whole range of health services (preventive, curative, educational
and rehabilitative) to the entire population. This is achieved
through a network of hospitals and primary healthcare centers
which are distributed throughout the country. Standard design
hospitals of 150, 250, and 350 beds are located in population
centres, supplemented by 20-50 bed clinics in towns and villages,
based on the number of people to be served. Special mobile
clinics service rural areas and are used to provide additional
support to the cities of Mecca and Medina during the Hajj
period.
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MOH
Hospital Facilities - Expansion
The Saudi health sector is facing
new challenges as the government continues to finance
health services for a rapidly growing population of
22.7 million, which is growing by 3% per annum. In its
2003 budget, the Saudi government has earmarked $ 6.2
billion for health and social care.
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Healthcare in Saudi Arabia, traditionally
provided by the Ministry of Health (MOH), is increasingly
being shared with other public and private agencies.
According to the latest available figures, by the end
of 1999, the total number of hospitals in the Saudi
health sector stood at 314 (45,729 beds). The Ministry
of Health has finalized plans to establish eight new
hospitals and renovate and expand the existing hospitals.
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The Ministry of Health is the major
healthcare service provider with 63% of hospital beds,
followed by the private sector with 13%, the Ministry
of Defense and Aviation with 8%, the Ministry of Higher
Education with 7%, the National Guard with 3%, and the
General Organization for Social Insurance, the Royal
Commission and the Ministry of Interior with 2% each
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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Increased
Healthcare Manpower |
The great expansion in healthcare
all over the Kingdom requires a large number of health
personnel and therefore the health manpower in the Ministry
has increased considerably. In 1970 the Ministry's total
health manpower was 4,438; this number had risen to
73,314 in 1999. The number of physicians has increased
from 789 to 14,786, nursing staff from 2,253 to 36,340
and allied health personnel from 1,396 to 22,188 in
the same period. The need for continuous improvement
in and development of health sector products and services
are increasing. The government's budget allocation for
the year 2003 was in excess of $6.5 billion.
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The local medical training programmes
have not kept up with the growing demand for physicians
and other para-medical staff. The Kingdom's health
services are therefore heavily dependent on Expatriates,
which provide around 80% of Physicians, Nurses and Paramedical
Technicians.
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The rapidly increasing demand for
health services has created renewed concerns for the
government of Saudi Arabia - to attract qualified medical
personnel from the countries of Indian subcontinent
by introducing the revised pay structure for doctors,
nurses and paramedical staff.
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