RIYADH — The Ministry of Health has cited several obstacles hindering its family medicine program despite its importance in healthcare development. In a report carried by Al-Watan daily, the ministry confirmed that the shortage of doctors specialized in family medicine is one of the main problems stalling the family medicine program. The number of vacancies for family medicine specialists and consultants exceeds 1,600 and graduates from Saudi universities are not enough to meet the local demand, the report said. The ministry urged Saudi students in local and foreign universities to focus on this major so new graduates can fulfill the need for doctors in the country. It also recommended increasing incentives for family doctors to ease the process of recruiting them from neighboring countries. The ministry said it has created jobs of consultants and specialists in family medicine and will appoint either national cadres or qualified foreign nationals. The ministry is currently training doctors and health centers on the community medicine concept, approach and programs in coordination with the general administration for training and scholarship. According to the ministry, the family medicine specialty is currently incorporated within the required manpower standards at job categories in health centers. A 14-month-long diploma course in family medicine was also introduced in 11 centers in the Kingdom. Ihalati project Meanwhile, the ministry said it transferred more than 16,000 critical patients to specialized hospitals inside the Kingdom last month. "The hospitals were able to save the lives of 538 of these patients," said Sulaiman Al-Sheri, supervisor of the "Ihalati" program at the ministry. The program helped transfer a total of 16,069 patients to various hospitals last month. Al-Sheri said "Ihalati" registered an additional 11,287 cases that need to be transferred to hospitals. He said the program is monitoring the 4,797 emergency cases and 4,089 cases that need to be hospitalized. The number of cases that have been sent to outpatient clinics were 6,645. "Ihalati" is a new program established by the ministry and it is unique in obtaining medical advice from doctors of various specializations to assess the condition of a patient without having to move him or her. The program also provides all the logistics and coordination required to refer patients to a medical facility.
