Healthcare Development Strategies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

159 Pages·2000·2.37 MB·English

by  Mohammed H. Mufti

Healthcare Development Strategies
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
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Healthcare Development Strategies
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mohammed Hassan S. Mufti
M.D., F.R.C.S., M.S., A.B.M.M.
Consultant in Health Administration
Saudi Arabia
KLUWERACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
New York, Boston, Dordrecht,London, Moscow
eBook ISBN: 0-306-47183-3
Print ISBN: 0-306-46314-8
©2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers
New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow
Print ©2000 Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers
New York
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Created in the United States of America
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To my wife Afaf A. Aldakhil,
and to my children Maram, Mishal, Majed, and Mansour
with the greatest love and affection and
with appreciation for their support, encouragement, and patience
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Foreword
This book is very timely at the present stage of development of the health care system in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Mufti has demonstrated, in a convincing manner, his
thorough knowledge and mastery of the health care delivery system and current issues
faced by it.
The book essentially asks and answers the question; now that we have all the human,
technical and physical resources in place, thanks to the strong and wise commitment of
the government, what roles do we have to play as planners, managers, and health care
providers, in sustaining the future viability and efficiency of the health care system.
I sincerely hope that health care provider agencies will read this book and reflect
seriously on the strategic issues raised and the policy actions recommended in it. Issues
discussed, such as the problem of coordination and integration ofactivities among health
care providers, are very timely and extremely pertinent in light of the fast evolving
economic and social environment in the Kingdom. Inefficiency, wasteful use of
resources, and needless redundancy of services should never be an excuse for promoting
the status quo.
At long last we have a health care system that we can justifiably be proud of. We must
continue to improve the quality of this system in an efficient manner. The problems we
face in doing this are not insurmountable. Overall, this book raises some major strategic
issues faced by our health care system and contributes significantly to the literature on the
provision of health care in the Kingdom. These policy issues and the recommended
policy actions will hopefully increase awareness, stimulate thinking, promote discussions,
and inspire necessary action.
Abdul-Wahab Bin Abdul-Salam Attar
Minister of Planning
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Foreword
Healthcareisone of the main priorities inSaudi Arabia and the government has provided
several organizations for this purpose. The Ministry of Health is the main governmental
agency with overall responsibility for health policies and planning for the Kingdom. The
private sector receives substantial support from the government and, therefore, it is
steadily growing.
The support and guidance the health sector has received from His Majesty the Custodian
of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz, HRH Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul
Aziz, the Crown Prince and the Chief of the National Guard, and HRH Prince Sultan Bin
Abdul Aziz, the Second Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation and General
Inspector, is unlimited. This support and guidance motivates us to provide high quality
preventive, curative and rehabilitative services.
Dr. Mohammed Mufti has written an interesting book: he has illustrated the healthcare
delivery system in the Kingdom and put forward strategic issues, which need to be
considered in the future. An appropriate prospective to assist healthcare planners and
executives is now available inone volume.
This book emphasizes the best utilization of resources, the financing of the health sector
and suggests contemporary solutions such as National Health Insurance, patient charges,
certificate of need and the important topic of Saudization.
Professor Ossama Shobokshi,
MBBS, M.D., CCST, PhD,FRCS (Hon)
Minister of Health
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