- Ministry of Health advances key goals of the Kingdom's Strategic Healthcare Plan
- Critical initiatives focused on improving patient outcomes in line with the Ministry's commitment to 'Patient First'
Riyadh, 1 October 2012: Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MoH) announced yesterday a range of initiatives aimed at further boosting the Kingdom's healthcare sector competencies through training, technology advancement and knowledge-sharing in line with the key goals of the Kingdom's Strategic Healthcare Plan to build the country's human capital capability.
These initiatives come as part of the efforts undertaken by the MoH to develop its healthcare services, enhance the performance of its facilities and to increase the efficiency of its employees. Training and scholarships are taking the center stage of the Ministry's plans with its budget allocation raised from SR 150 million to SR 350 million during the last three budgets. In addition, training programs now cover a wider section of employees in the medical, technical and administrative levels.
The MoH also continues working on finding solutions to the various challenges faced by the healthcare sector in the Kingdom and improving the standards of national healthcare in line with the directives of the Ministry to serve patients, ensure their satisfaction, maintain their health and safety and improve services provided to them to achieve the goal of 'Patient First.'
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah and GE Chairman & CEO Jeffrey Immelt announced the details of the initiatives during a meeting that was held at His Excellency's office.
The new initiatives will include the following:
- The establishment of a Healthcare Learning & Simulation Center in Riyadh, offering best-in-class training to Saudi healthcare professionals
- Plans to collaborate on the development of a modern MoH Performance Improvement Unit to serve MoH facilities in the Kingdom
- Opportunities to establish and deploy a new e-health interoperability standards program for the Kingdom
- Active and ongoing assessment by MoH and GE to explore opportunities for the localization of medical devices in the Kingdom
The initiatives announced yesterday complement the MoH's Strategic Healthcare Plan, focused on:
- The adoption of an integrated and comprehensive healthcare system with a key focus on Research and Education
- Attracting qualified staff and development of human resources
- The establishment of an institutional culture in the Healthcare Industry, with a focus on increased quality, in addition to, measuring and monitoring performance
- Advancement of an e-health information system
- Optimization of resource allocation with a focus on Health Economics and various methods to advance funding
Commenting on the announcement Al Rabeeah said: "The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health has ambitious plans to develop the Kingdom's healthcare infrastructure."
Reinforcing the Ministry's commitment to implement various programs on workforce development, a Training Center was also established. The number of trainees at the Center in 1432 reached 132,802 on various activities and programs while 600 doctors and nurses were trained on ways to improve patient management.
Immelt explained: "We are thankful to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health for their continued support and confidence in the advanced competencies that GE brings to the Kingdom's healthcare sector. This approach is designed to continue building on the Ministry's vision of realizing a sustainable healthcare model across the country and bringing better health to more people. These initiatives have been specifically designed to meet the growing demands of a modern healthcare system, as outlined by the Kingdom's Strategic Healthcare Plan, as well as addressing the goals outlined in the Ninth Development Plan."
Details of the initiatives announced included:
Healthcare Learning & Simulation Center
Establishment of a dedicated Healthcare Learning & Simulation Center, the first-of-its-kind in the Kingdom. The facility, to be established in partnership with King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) at its campus in Riyadh, is envisaged to be a leading provider of healthcare education and training in the Middle East. It will provide trainings in the areas of clinical, technical and leadership skills, drawing on simulation training methods based on online and classroom nursing program, continuing medical education courses, and awareness programs on health technology, patient physiology and healthcare quality for medical professionals. The facility is expected to be completed by 2014.
MoH Performance Improvement Unit
A unit to further enhance the efficiency of the MoH's healthcare centers and to support the MoH's mission of transforming hospital operations and instituting a culture of quality and performance focused on 'Patient First.'
Drawing on LEAN Six Sigma model and change management methodology, the Unit will explore healthcare improvement opportunities in Saudi Arabia over a five-year period while ten dedicated Performance Improvement Consultants of the MoH will be trained to operate the Unit.
The Performance Improvement Unit envisages the implementation of best practice operational processes and patient pathways in MoH hospitals, with a focus on skills transfer to localize and embed a performance improvement culture. Enabling cost efficiencies, improving quality, patient satisfaction and increasing access will be the primary objectives of the Performance Improvement Unit. The Unit will initially focus on sustaining the Operating Room utilization projects delivered by the GE Healthcare Performance Solutions Group as well as ensuring the sustainability of ongoing Emergency Room transformation projects.
To date, GE Performance Solutions has helped transform the Operating Theatres at 16 MoH hospitals and seven hospital Emergency Departments through tools and methodologies aimed at enhancing operational efficiencies, quality, patient safety, and clinical improvement.
e-health Interoperability Standards Program
The Saudi MoH has identified interoperability between different parts of the healthcare system as a cornerstone in its strategy to improve access, patient safety and the quality of healthcare. This ambitious and industry-leading effort would support the MoH in achieving an integrated solution for the management of patient information records across Saudi Arabia, enabling better management of patients through the healthcare system, maximize the flow of patient information records between hospitals and improve patient safety.
Localization of medical devices in the Kingdom and knowledge sharing
The MoH is also exploring opportunities to promote localization of medical devices in the Kingdom by drawing on the technological competencies of global healthcare solutions providers. The objective is to promote knowledge sharing to strengthen the skill sets of Saudi healthcare professionals and thus create new jobs for Saudis, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2020