Implementation of Public Health Measure in Saudi Arabia: Origin, Philosophy, and Impact

Identify a Public Health Measure That Has Been Implemented In Saudi Arabia. Describe Its Origin And The Philosophy Behind This Measure.

Detail How It Has Affected Citizens. In Your Opinion, Has The Measure Been Effective? Why Or Why Not?

How Could It Be Improved?

As per the constitution of Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, it is the fundamental right of every citizen to get access to proper health care facilities. The National Development plan had emphasized on the health development of the population of KSA as one of the important areas of the government (Khaliq,  2012). Since, the development of the nation, the government of KSA has always invested a lot in providing good and affordable health care facilities to the clients. It has provided the universal access to health care facilities to most of the people. The government of KSA had developed strategic Plan for the Ministry of Health (MoH) for overcoming the challenges. The main aim of the strategy is to improve the infrastructure of the primary care facilities in Saudi Arabia, to increase the health coverage of most of the residents of KSA, to increase the funding of the primary care services, to ensure that all the residents of the KSA are get equal access to the health care facilities.

The context of the development of this plan can be dated back to the year 1949, when a a small number of medical staffs and fewer hospital beds. Since, then the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia had made several progress in the organization of the health care system. Major developments have been bought in every sectors of health in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, it has been reported that in spite of the progress made in the health care sectors (Khaliq,  2012). The primary care sector had remained neglected. There was no e-health system which led to the repeated occurrence of the clinical errors. The main philosophy of the policy is to improve the primary care services and the overall medical services in KSA. Since, the publishing of the policy, the MOH provides 60 % of the health service facilities free of cost, via 13 health directorates. 20 % of the health care facilities are delivered free of cost via government agencies (Al Asmri et al. 2019). Another objective of strategic Planning is to counter the challenges posed by chronic diseases, poor electronic health system, poor coordination between the health care sectors and lack of a centralized structure. The remaining is provided by the non-government agencies. The Medical education has also developed largely. The total budget of the primary care sectors has been increased. In spite of the large number of the resources, it can be found that a percentage of population is still deprived of the primary care service probably due to the remoteness , lack of awareness. Moe focus should be given to the development of the electronic health system developed in the primary health care settings or other clinical settings.

References

Al Asmri, M., Almalki, M. J., Fitzgerald, G., & Clark, M. (2019). The public healthcare system and primary care services in Saudi Arabia: a system in transition. East Mediterr Health J, 25.

Khaliq, A. A. (2012). The Saudi health care system: a view from the minaret. World health & population, 13(3), 52-64.