In a major development in the Kingdom a new comprehensive health encyclopedia is to be published in Arabic as a reference source for millions across the region. The announcement was made Sunday by Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz, Chief of General Intelligence and Honorary Chairman of the Saudi Association for Health Informatics. He said King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has given his approval for the project. During the inauguration of the Saudi conference for electronic health systems, Prince Muqrin said the encyclopedia will serve millions of people and enable them to access correct health information. He said a person will only be added to the encyclopedia after stringent checks. Prince Muqrin said the Kingdom is going through an important stage in building the nation. The leadership is striving to computerize information in the public and private sectors to keep pace with international developments and also to inform the world that the Kingdom is a source of work, civilization and the message of Islam. Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah said the ministry has developed an electronic health systems strategy and a contract has been awarded to a large specialist company. He said the most important challenges facing this strategy is quality, availability and continuity of services; access to patient information; cooperation with other sectors; the increase in traffic accidents and chronic diseases. Al-Rabeah said the ministry is striving to activate the electronic health system that is characterized by quality and a focus on the patient. The electronic system will help to evaluate the health system and develop it, focus on care for the patient, link health service providers and assist in the establishment of five health cities with integrated services. The five cities will employ world-renowned health staff and provide basic health information. The minister of health said electronic health systems are crucial for the success of modern health care facilities. He said consultative committees have been formed, to develop these systems, from all the health sectors. Meantime, Bandar Al-Qinawi, President of King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences and Executive Director General for Health Affairs in the National Guard, said three groups in the field of electronic health have graduated from the university with master's degrees. This is a total of 50 male and female doctors.
