Analyzing Saudi Arabia's Healthcare Challenges and Vision 2030 Goals

This essay examines the future healthcare challenges facing Saudi Arabia, focusing on the nation's Vision 2030 goals. It begins by providing background information on Saudi Arabia's healthcare system, highlighting the historical shift from a poor country to one with significant oil wealth and the subsequent evolution of public and private healthcare sectors. The essay then delves into key challenges, including accessibility of healthcare facilities due to geographical limitations and the impact of distance on patient satisfaction. It explores issues of healthcare quality, such as poor management, shortages of trained professionals, and the need for digitalization. The essay also addresses the high costs associated with healthcare, including rising expenditures due to chronic diseases, high costs of non-Saudi professionals, and challenges in sustainable financing. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for national strategies and a unique monitoring and evaluation strategy to achieve the goals of Vision 2030 and improve the quality of healthcare in Saudi Arabia. The essay uses relevant research and data to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state and future prospects of the Saudi Arabian healthcare system.

Running head: SAUDI ARABIA’S FUTURE HEALTH CARE CHALLENGES 1
Saudi Arabia’s Future Healthcare Challenges, Vision 2030 and beyond
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

SAUDI ARABIA'S FUTURE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES 2
Introduction
Saudi Arabia is known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is the second largest Arab
state. The country's population is estimated to be 33.55 million in 2018, and a third of its
nationals are expatriates (GMI, 2019). Saudi Arabia was a poor country before the discovery of
oil in its boundaries. The country has experienced major concerns about the quality of healthcare
in public facilities as well as high costs. The department of public health was established by King
Abdulaziz in 1925 following a royal decree. The department has mandated the responsibility of
free healthcare for all its citizens. However, the sector of private healthcare is growing rapidly,
and the people are relying on private healthcare organizations to manage their needs of
healthcare. The increasing population in Saudi Arabia and the health expenditures are forcing the
government to make changes in the healthcare sector. The government is privatizing public
hospitals and also introducing foreign workers and citizens to insurance coverage. Therefore, this
essay is set to discuss the challenges associated with the vision 2030 of the healthcare
enhancement goal in Saudi Arabia.
Economic components
Access
Access to healthcare is very important in determining the health of an individual.
Accessibility of available facilities within accessible distances improves health. The healthcare
facilities in Saudi Arabia are not accessible. Also, there is low access to healthcare education in
the country (Al-Ahmadi and Roland, 2018). Research reveals that most countries like South
Africa, Portugal, and KSA take distance to the target population as a very significant aspect
while planning for the design and construction of new health facilities. Furthermore, the distance
traveled towards healthcare has a great impact on patients' satisfaction. According to Saeed et,
al., (2011), longer distances limit patients' satisfaction. Therefore, the fact that most of the health

SAUDI ARABIA'S FUTURE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES 3
facilities in Saudi Arabia are sparse and far from the population in the country presents a
negative implication to the satisfaction of the patients thus impacting the success of vision 2030
regarding quality health care.
Furthermore, the students who are transitioning into the nursing profession face the
fundamental challenge of coping with workload (Aldawsari, Babenko-Mould, & Andrusyszyn,
2016). In 2010, road accidents and non-communicable diseases were the leading causes of
disability and deaths in the country while in 1990 was preterm birth complications (Memish et,
al., 2016). The changing pattern of diseases is a result of the changing lifestyle habits
characterized by smoking and poor dietary behavior, low prevalence of physical activity
(Alkabba, Hussein, Albar, Bahnassy, & Qadi, 2017). The change in the disease pattern will result
in an increase in the years lived with disability in Saudi Arabia.
Quality
Saudi Arabia is facing various challenges due to the growing demand for health services,
public pressure for better health services and rising cost. The quality of health care in Saudi
Arabia is impeded by various factors; poor management of the health facilities by the mid-level
managers and technical supervisors. The majority lack training and postgraduate qualifications.
The country also experiences a shortage of health educators with only 8% of the health centers
staffed with health educators, inadequate provision of environmental health services that is poor
sanitation of food sources and water and improper disposal of waste. Due to the rapid
industrialization of the economy, there has been no an education system to enhance the
development of adequate physicians, nurses and healthcare technicians. Even though the
education system in the country is currently improving, the majority of the healthcare
practitioners in the country are non-Saudis. Such an aspect illustrates the country’s inability to
provide sustainable and reliable healthcare which is a side-back on vision 2030. The health

SAUDI ARABIA'S FUTURE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES 4
professionals in the country come from more than forty nations which include Canada, USA,
Australia, and Philippine. The fact that health professionals in Saudi Arabia come from different
nations has resulted into the development of a new name to the Saudi Arabian healthcare system
(United Nations of Health Professionals). Implementing digitalization as enshrined in vision
2030 is fundamental in achieving quality healthcare (Nugali, 2018). For instance, MoH aims at
having at least 70% of its citizens having unified digital records (Nagel, 2019). Keeping the
patients’ safety in the country has become a fundamental issue among the health facilities in the
country. For instance, the interest of the management of the healthcare facilities and the patients
regarding patients' safety is only triggered by the occurrence of adverse events. There is plenty
of underreporting of error and harming incidences due to the wide spreading culture of blaming
the workers in the hospitals when errors occur. In so doing, the workers and other healthcare
practitioners tend to protect themselves from the blame by hiding the errors rather than facing
and handling the issue through seeking clarifications where necessary. The health care facility of
Saudi Arabia should focus at encouraging harmony between the management teams and the
workers in the healthcare system to facilitate transparency and effectiveness in the delivery of
services to the patients in the country. Furthermore, there are very few research institutes in the
field of medicine within the country. The only long-established scientific research center in the
field of medicine is located in KFSH$RC and receives its budget through the hospital from the
government. Furthermore, the research in the field of medicine is specific rather than being
widened across a wide area. Studies cover specifically four areas namely, infectious diseases and
environmental, genetics, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Such a specialization in the field of
medicine is a hindrance to the attainment of vision 2030 regarding quality healthcare as it
prevents innovation and creativity in prevention and cure of other diseases.

SAUDI ARABIA'S FUTURE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES 5
Cost
As most countries tend to achieve the objective of cost-effective healthcare alongside
quality, Saudi Arabia has presented doubts regarding both the cost and quality of health care
services. The cost of healthcare in Saudi Arabia is very high with the country having a very high
healthcare expenditure. Healthcare is provided by the government and the rising incidences of
chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancers, and diabetes results in rising demands of
healthcare services. Such diseases are more prominent among elderly Saudi men (Saquib, et, al.,
2017). The rising demands are putting a strain in the country’s finances. The low average tenure
(2.3 years) for the non-Saudi professionals in the healthcare system presents a huge implication
on the cost of healthcare. For instance, obsolete and unused expensive equipment are left by the
leaving physicians thus presenting unnecessary costs to the medical field as the new physician
demand new equipment as terms of their contract. The professionals also receive a lot of
generous premiums for vacation and holiday pay which presents heavy costs to the healthcare
system. The figure below shows a higher cost on healthcare in 2018 compared to the 2017
expenditure. The nation has challenges in obtaining sustainable financing and housing in the
health sector (NTP, 2016).

SAUDI ARABIA'S FUTURE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES 6
Presented by: (McCarthy, 2018).
Conclusion
In order to meet the challenges and improve the quality of healthcare in Saudi Arabia, the
government needs to set national strategies for health care. Despite the healthcare sector having
many challenges the MOH and other related bodies should work together to implement the
success of the health care strategy in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, a unique monitoring and
evaluation strategy has to be initiated for the achievement of vision 2030.
References
Al-Ahmadi, H., and Roland, M. (2018). Quality of primary health care in Saudi Arabia: A
comprehensive review [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7858238_Quality_of_primary_health_care_in_
Saudi_Arabia_A_comprehensive_review

SAUDI ARABIA'S FUTURE HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES 7
Aldawsari, A. N., Babenko-Mould, Y., & Andrusyszyn, M. A. (2016). Transitioning from
nursing student to clinical teacher in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Nursing Education and
Practice, 6(2), 76.
Alkabba, A. F., Hussein, G. M., Albar, A. A., Bahnassy, A. A., & Qadi, M. (2017). The major
medical ethical challenges facing the public and healthcare providers in Saudi
Arabia. Journal of Family and Community Medicine, 19(1), 1.
GMI (2019). Saudi Arabia’s population statistics of 2019 [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.globalmediainsight.com/blog/saudi-arabia-population-statistics/
McCarthy, N. (2018). Military spending dominates Saudi Arabia’s budget [online]. Retrieved
from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2018/10/17/military-spending-
dominates-saudi-arabias-budget-infographic/#2cc215957705
Memish, Z. A., Jaber, S., Mokdad, A. H., AlMazroa, M. A., Murray, C. J., & Al Rabeeah, A. A.
(2016). Peer-reviewed: Burden of disease, injuries, and risk factors in the Kingdom of
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Nagel, N. (2019). Saudi Vision 2030: The opportunities in healthcare [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.middleeastmedicalportal.com/saudi-vision-2030-the-opportunities-in-
healthcare/
NTP (2016). The government of Saudi Arabia vision 2030 [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/sites/default/files/NTP_En.pdf
Nugali, N. (2018). Digital healthcare solutions connect Saudi patients with providers [online].
Retrieved from: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1386696/saudi-arabia

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Saquib, N., Saquib, J., Alhadlag, A., Albakour, M. A., Aljumah, B., Sughayyir, M., ... & Al-
Mazrou, A. (2017). Chronic disease prevalence among elderly Saudi men. International
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