Health in Saudi Arabia

  • Yemen: Saudi Arabia 'should fund all humanitarian aid'

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2017/09/05 Saudi Arabia alone should fund all steps to tackle widespread disease and hunger in war-torn Yemen, a top UN official has said. Comments by David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), were unusually forthright for such a high-ranking UN official in criticising one party in a conflict.
  • Big changes ahead for Saudi Arabia’s health care sector

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2017/04/16 Rising consumer request and an increased role for the private sector look set to drive expansion and open new doors for investors in Saudi Arabia’s health care industry. In its “2016 World Medical Trend Rates” statement, US-based consultancy Aon Hewitt predicts the Kingdom’s health care sector will grow at a compound annual increase rate of 12.3% through to 2020, reaching a price of $71.2bn. Last year the average net “trend rate” for the industry in Saudi Arabia rose by 9.5%, according to Aon, well above the MENA average of 5.3%.
  • Saudi Arabia urgently needs 30,000 medical staff

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2014/11/19 Saudi Arabia needs additional than 30,000 medical staff imminently, the government has warned in a new statement published by the Ministry of Economy and Planning. At least 10,000 doctors and 20,000 nurses are needed by the end of the year, while the country as well is short nearly 3,000 primary healthcare centres, the statement says, according to Makkah Daily. The kingdom’s healthcare has been scrutinised in the completed year amid an outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which started in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has killed additional than 700 people, mostly in the kingdom. Before this year, the health minister was sacked next a Jeddah hospital was forced to shut down its emergency room next nurses became infected with the potentially fatal virus, leading to at least one virologist claiming the kingdom was not dealing with the virus entirely.
  • Foreign company to manage kidney centers project in Saudi Arabia

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2013/08/28 The Ministry of Health has announced that SR1.9 billion will be allocated for a five-year project to provide healthcare services for kidney patients. The project will be assigned any minute at this time to a foreign operating company. Dr. Aqeel Jamaan Al-Ghamdi, deputy minister of health for therapeutic medicine and hospitals and supervisor of the National Program for Dialysis, told Saudi Gazette that major world companies specialized in running dialysis centers were invited to bid for the project.
  • Saudi healthcare GDP expected to reach $25.6 billion

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2013/07/28 Request for healthcare services in Saudi Arabia will continue to rise, backed by rapid people increase, a growing aging segment, and the prevalence of long-term non-communicable diseases. While the Ministry of Health (MoH) will continue to dominate the market as a major financier, opportunities for private players will continue to emerge in all three tiers of medical care, the National Commercial Bank said in its statement. As the government shifts its focus to providing primary healthcare services through a network of over 2000 Primary Healthcare Centers, better revenue drivers for the private sector will be in secondary and tertiary care. The anticipated all comprehensive health insurance scheme will as well act as a catalyst in propelling private sector participation forward. By end 2011, health insurance, inclunding both compulsory and non-compulsory lines, accounted for 53 % of the gross written premiums representing SR9.71 billion. 
  • Saudi Arabia spends SR 350 million on biotechnology research

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2012/12/23 The Kingdom has spent SR 350 million on research projects in the field of biotechnology through the national plan for science, technology and innovation during the past three years, the chief of research at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has said.