Rabeah, Minister of Health, addressing journalists in Jeddah. — SPA Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A specialist committee is to work out a mechanism to determine fees at private hospitals in the Kingdom. The Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rabeah, made the announcement in an address to newspaper editors, writers and intellectuals. Dr. Al-Rabeah said: “We aim to hold private hospitals to the same standards as public hospitals and we will gauge the standards of all private medical staff entering the Kingdom. “A system for clinical assessment will also be introduced at all public hospitals in order to reduce medical errors,” he said. The announcement comes after a recent Ministry of Health report highlighted serious problems affecting the Kingdom's hospitals. Since then the ministry has been working tirelessly to ensure that all hospitals are stocked with medical equipment, staff and hospital beds. Dr. Al-Rabeah said: “Construction work at a 500-bed hospital in north Jeddah will be completed in 18 months. This will solve the hospital bed shortage in Jeddah's public hospitals. We are also planning to build another hospital adjacent to this one.” An electronic program to monitor epidemics will also be launched in Makkah after this year's Haj. The Kingdom will be the second country in the world to launch the epidemiological program. The Haj masses medicine program has also been approved. In all 20,000 staff will work in 24 hospitals in Mina, Arafat, Makkah and King Abdullah City to provide advanced medical services to pilgrims. Dr. Al-Rabeah also warned doctors who give bogus medical reports to patients that they will be severely punished. The practice does untold damage to the Kingdom's economy, he said. The minister said: “The ministry will not tolerate this malpractice and anyone caught will be held accountable because it flies in the face of all medical ethics.” __
