Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia

This paper explores the vision and strategy of the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia to improve the delivery of healthcare for all its people. It discusses how the ministry is improving the delivery of healthcare services through accountability and governance, equitable care standards, and quality and performance standards.

Running Head: MINSTRY OF HEALTH OF SAUDI ARABIA
Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia
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MINSTRY OF HEALTH OF SAUDI ARABIA 2
Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia
Introduction
Healthcare systems in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia have enhanced greatly over the last
years as seen by the availability as well as accessibility of healthcare facilities in all parts of the
vast country. The ministry of health in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia offers about 61% of all the
healthcare services in the country while the rest of the services are shared among various
agencies of the government as well as the private sector. The healthcare system in the country
has shifted to offering for a steadily ever-growing human population. With about 33 million
people, the ministry of health as well as other health organizations have to mutually work to
offer quality and effective healthcare for its population (Hatim et al, 2016). This paper will
explore the vision and strategy of the ministry of health of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to
improve the delivery of healthcare for all its people. The paper will discuss how the ministry of
health in the country is improving the delivery of healthcare services through accountability and
governance, equitable care standards to its people and the quality and performance standards.
Background information of the MOH
After the modern state of the country was established by King Abdul Bin Abdul Rahman
Al Saud, disease as well as public health management were one of the top priorities of the
government. The establishment of the healthcare system of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia
concurred with the Al Hijaz takeover by King Abdul Aziz as well as Mecca designation as the
first capital of Saudi Arabia. Despite the various challenges that faced the new government, they
were overcome by the shrewd guidance of the founding King of the country. The department of
Public health was established in 1343H/1925 in Makkah Al-Mukaramah. This department was

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tasked with building hospitals as well as healthcare centers. It also formulated and implemented
regulations which had the mission of guaranteeing standards for the pharmacology and medicine
practice. Due to the rising scope of the healthcare services, pubic health council was created
which acted as the highest supervisory body in the country managing all aspects of the healthcare
services such as healthcare centers and hospitals in the whole country. Finally, in 1995, the
country created the ministry of health which was to handle all the affairs of healthcare system in
the Kingdom.
The Ministry of Health Vision and Mission
By the way of its projects, policies and objectives which are entailed in this strategy,
seeking to accomplish a bright future, the ministry of health the vision is to deliver quality and
highly integrated as well as wide-ranging healthcare services (Ministry of Health, 2018). On the
other hand, the mission of the ministry of health of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the offering
of healthcare services to everybody and at all levels in the country, promoting general healthcare
as well as diseases prevention. Furthermore, the ministry of health is committed to developing
and coming up with legislations as well as laws for the regulation of both the private and
government health sectors. MOH is also accountable for the monitoring and evaluation of
performance in health institutions coupled with academic training and research in the field of
investment.
The Strategy of The Ministry of Health of The Kingdom
The ministry of health strategy in the kingdom is consistent as well as coherent with the
strategy of healthcare of the country (Ministry of Health, 2018). The strategy for the country is
improve of healthcare in the country with the leadership adopting its implementation (Khalil et

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al, 2018). The strategy of healthcare in the country is anchored on the basic law of the kingdom
which states that the country shall offer healthcare as well as public health to every individual,
that is, offering healthcare services which meets the needs of every individual in the country.
This strategy has been set in the kingdom by taking into consideration all the components which
can aid in the realization of MOH vision in the country. some of the components include;
Accountability and governance; the ministry has created numerous avenues for
promoting systems governance and accountability in the country in order to offer quality and
effective healthcare services to the population. MOH is also promoting performance as well as
compliance with adequate flexibility and transparency. In the context of the ministry of health,
performance is described as focusing on how governance settings are used in order to contribute
the entire performance of the ministry of health as well as ensuring quality and sustainable
delivery of the healthcare programs and services (Al-sharqi, 2012). The ministry has identified
that good governance requires and demands to promote accountability which is being answerable
for every decision made regarding provision of healthcare services to the population as well as
having effective mechanisms to ensure adherence to all the legislations, policies, standards and
regulations which are formulated.
The MOH strategy seeks to promote equitable care standards to all the populations in the
country. it should be noted that the ministry of health offers about 61% of all the healthcare
services to the population free of charge via the 13 directorates of health. About 21% of the
health services is provided by other government agencies while the rest of the percentage is
delivered by the non-governmental agencies.
The strategy of the ministry also promotes performance and quality standards in the
ministry seeks to offer quality healthcare services to the population (Alshahrani, Rahman &

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Chan, 2018). The ministry of health through the assistance of the national government has set out
national standards to measure, assess and realize the performance of the ministry of health
(Alharbe & Atkins, 2014). There are three major types of standards in the country, that is,
structure standards which is in charge of healthcare systems like hospitals, labor force and the
process of building hospitals. There are procedures and activity standards and the outcome
standards. The outcome standards assess whether the quality outcome was realized during the
delivery of healthcare to the population.
My personal view of the MOH
Provision of healthcare services is one of the fundamental rights of every citizen. It is,
therefore, important the MOH offers equitable and fair medical services to the people. I have
acknowledged that MOH is doing a lot in the provision of healthcare services but they should do
more to improve and enhance quality medical care in the country especially to the
underprivileged population.
Conclusion
Healthcare services are one of the important services in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia
since it ensures that the country remains healthy and productive. It is, therefore, imperative that
the ministry of health realize its vision as well as strategy for the people of Saudi Arabia.

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References
Alharbe, N., & Atkins, A. S. (2014). A study of the application of automatic healthcare tracking
and monitoring system in Saudi Arabia. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
PERVASIVE COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS, (2), 183.
Alshahrani, S., Rahman, S., & Chan, C. (2018). Hospital-supplier integration and hospital
performance: evidence from Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Logistics
Management, 29(1), 22–45. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-12-2016-0287
Al-sharqi, O. Z. (2012). Healthcare Development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Australia and
the USA: A Comparative Analysis. Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Economics &
Administration, 26(2), 447–22. https://doi.org/10.4197/Eco. 26-2.8
Hatim S., A., Feroze, K., Mohammed, J., A, & Hany S. (2016). Awareness of online medical
databases - UpToDate® and BMJ - among Ministry of Health staff in Saudi Arabia: A
cross-sectional survey. Journal of Health Specialties, Vol 4, Iss 3, Pp 219-221 (2016), (3),
219. https://doi.org/10.4103/2468-6360.186505
Khalil, M. K. M., Al-Eidi, S., Al-Qaed, M., & AlSanad, S. (2018). Review Article: The future of
integrative health and medicine in Saudi Arabia. Integrative Medicine Research.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2018.06.004
Ministry of Health. (2018). About The Ministry.
https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Ministry/About/Pages/Strategy.aspx