Rabeah, Minister of Health, said Friday that the ministry handles 60 percent of all health services in the Kingdom, with the private sector responsible for 20 percent and the remaining covered by other sectors. Speaking at a recent meeting held by US businessmen in Riyadh, Al-Rabeah also said that child vaccination had risen to 97 percent, and that the death rates of women in childbirth, infants and under-fives had fallen. The ministry's health care programs have learnt from the wider experience of more advanced countries that are similar to the Kingdom in terms of demography, geography and urban and population diversity,” Al-Rabeah said. “We have closely studied regional and global comprehensive healthcare in 14 countries.” According to the minister, most of those countries have in place “comprehensive and integrated” healthcare. “The method provides easy access to high-quality services. The Comprehensive Health Care Project in Saudi Arabia aims to improve primary healthcare, raise the efficiency of the ministry's facilities and control the quality of services,” he said. The Health Care Project, Al-Rabeah said, covers the restructuring and development of hospitals, improvements to ambulance services and manpower, and preparing ministry's facilities for the introduction of quality control regulations and certification.
