The Ministry of Health has approved 47 new centers for physiotherapy, 10 for functional therapy, 12 for speech and hearing disorders and five prosthetics units for the Kingdom. Faisal Al-Anezi, Supervisor General for Medical Rehabilitation at the Ministry of Health, announced the move at a workshop in Jizan for “Neurological Disease and Stroke Patient Therapy.” Al-Anezi said the ministry had begun the new plan for rehabilitation and physiotherapy services in the Kingdom's hospitals and that all departments are expected to be fully operational within five years. The plan provides for treatment in hospitals with a capacity for 200 beds, the completion of existing departments by adding specialist wards to convert them into integrated medical rehabilitation centers, and the establishment of hospitals for referrals in all regions. The location of the hospitals will be decided with regional health directorates. Ten percent of hospitals with an operational capacity of 300 beds will be allocated for medical rehabilitation. The plan will create new jobs and appointments will be made for medical rehabilitation vacancies. Training and research will be stepped up, and job description criteria for employees in all medical therapy fields will be defined. – Okaz/SG __
