DAMMAM — The Ministry of Health has started the actual implementation of the program of "Family doctor for every family" in designated health centers in all regions and governorates across the Kingdom. A total of 700 teams have been constituted and the number of beneficiaries registered for the program reached 200,000, according to the Department of Communications and Relations at the branch of the ministry in Makkah region. The ministry aims to expand the program by forming 1,000 teams during the first quarter of 2021 and is working to increase the number during the rest of the year. It will ensure the quality and continuity of service and provision of training to the medical teams, according to a report in Makkah newspaper. The program is a reformulation of the method of providing primary healthcare by forming medical teams in every primary healthcare center. Each team consists of a doctor and at least two nursing staff, and the team will always be responsible for healthcare for a specific group of individuals and families. A minimum of 1,000 people are associated with each team. The ministry aims to generalize this model to all primary healthcare centers, where the beneficiaries will be linked to the team doctor. The ministry sources said that the program aims to provide integrated and continuous preventive and curative healthcare, and to follow up the provision of treatment plans and coordinate them, in order to ensure that all individuals receive all types of health services required for them in accordance with their age, gender and health status. Thus this is reflected in the improvement of the overall health conditions of the individual, family and the community as well. On his part, Dr. Abdullah Al-Quaidi, family doctor and trainer for the family medicine fellowship, said that the implementation of the program contributes to achieving one of the goals of Vision 2030 in raising the quality of life in the Kingdom. This is through improving the quality of primary healthcare by making available of a medical team, of which family doctor is a part. The medical team undertakes the health follow-up for a specific number of individuals, and the team enjoys broader powers in diagnosing, suggesting medical tests, prescribing medicines, transferring patients faster and more easily to hospitals. The team also coordinates with the hospital to which the patient is referred to as well as with the doctor who follows up the patient at the hospital.
