RIYADH — Officials from the Ministry of Health have carried out 153,000 inspection tours health facilities in all regions of the Kingdom to monitor their compliance with precautionary measures and preventive protocols to stem the spread of coronavirus. The ministry teams have so far registered 5,000 violations and referred them to the committees dealing with the violations and they also closed 150 establishments. However, most of the closed facilities were allowed to reopen after rectifying the violations with the payment of fines and giving an undertaking not to repeat the violations. The statutory penalties against the violations include fines up to SR300,000, shutting down the facility, revoking the license of the establishment and health practitioners, and a ban on practice for a period of up to two years. The ministry announced that it has intensified daily inspection visits to enhance the level of awareness and compliance among the health firms since the beginning of last February. The inspections covered hospitals, medical centers, polyclinics, pharmacies, and other health institutions, to ensure their commitment to abide by coronavirus precautionary and preventive measures, especially with regard to face masks and maintenance of physical distance. The ministry is keen on putting health and hygiene mechanisms at the forefront to contain the pandemic while ensuring all the measures safety of health workers as well as the public are adhered to. A section of the inspection teams focused on government hospitals and their facilities as well as at quarantine facilities all over the Kingdom to ensure their compliance with health requirements and mechanisms in transferring samples, examining workers and health practitioners, maintaining physical distance, and keeping a check on overcrowding. At the same time, some teams monitor compliance of the coronavirus protocols during their inspections at private sector hospitals and clinics. The inspectors also carry out hundreds of daily visits to pharmacies to ensure their compliance with the precautions in addition to monitoring the prices of products displayed for sale and that is done in cooperation with the relevant authorities. The ministry urged all healthcare providers and health practitioners to adhere to the requirements stipulated in the health regulations and preventive measures followed in the Kingdom in order to preserve the safety of patients as well as to avoid the imposition of statutory penalties against the violators.
