Okaz MOST government departments do not deal with very important things and focus on things of lesser significance. They also forget about their main mission and spend time and energy on matters that are secondary. I can give three examples for the poor performance of government agencies. This does not mean all other government departments are free from mistakes. Let us discuss the issue of the Commerce Ministry and its handling of the Tasattur (cover-up) business issue. Despite the successes achieved by the ministry in protecting consumers and punishing traders who violate the law we have not seen any effective move to combat Tasattur. Tasattur means allowing expatriate traders and investors to do business in the name of Saudis or legal foreign investors for their personal account. This is the definition given by the director general of the department to combat Tasattur at the ministry in 2012. Tasattur business is harmful to the national economy as foreigners engaged in such businesses transfer huge amounts of money to their accounts outside the Kingdom. It comes to SR140 billion a year. This phenomenon is considered one of the reasons for unemployment among Saudis. Despite all these negative effects, the ministry did not make any major move to fight this scourge that has been weakening the national economy. We have not seen any inspection campaign by the ministry to identify Tasattur businesses across the country or passage of a new law to reorganize the retail market where this illegal business is booming. Another important issue is the absence of traffic officers in the field to monitor violations, especially at traffic lights. Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries in the world to introduce e-service in the traffic department for issuing driving license and road license, etc. At the same time, we see total absence of traffic officers in the field, which is actually the main mission of a traffic officer. Major traffic violations such as speeding, wrong parking and running the red lights take place every minute on our roads and at traffic signals. These violations take place mainly because of the absence of traffic officers in places where motorists are likely to make mistakes and violate rules. As a result of this negligence from the department, thousands of traffic accidents occur all over the Kingdom. According to figures issued by the Traffic Department, 20 people die and 35 others suffer injuries every day on the Kingdom's roads as a result of accidents. Traffic accident victims occupy 30 percent of beds at public and private hospitals in the country. These are alarming figures. Road accidents are increasing year after year but we don't see any major move by the Traffic Department to bring them under control. The Health Ministry has been talking about introducing a unified medical record but it still remains on paper. We know that the ministry has committed several mistakes but its failure to introduce a unified medical record is one of its biggest mistakes. Unified medical record will enable all hospitals and medical centers in the Kingdom to know the medical history and progress of a patient including expats. It will enable health institutions to exchange health files of citizens and residents easily and in a secured manner. This system to exchange information between government and private hospitals will enhance efficiency of health service providers and contribute to further improving the Kingdom's healthcare system. It will enable hospitals to provide better services to patients. Unfortunately, we don't see any important move by the ministry to introduce the unified medical record system in the Kingdom despite its strategic significance and merits.
