Global medical companies and health care providers should open their regional offices in the Kingdom to take part in upcoming local projects, said Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah during his inauguration of the Saudi Health Exhibition and Conference 2013 in Riyadh.
The minister said that the purpose of holding such a massive event was to keep the healthcare providers in the Kingdom informed of the latest medical advances and to shed light on the state-of-the art facilities and services that are available for satisfactory medical services.
The ministry was able to offer healthcare services through 22 medical complexes, hospitals and some 2,000 primary healthcare centers throughout the Kingdom. The minister anticipates active private sector participation to provide the best health services to the public as envisaged by the leadership of the Kingdom.
Upon recommendation by the council of ministers, a National Center For Prevention and Disease Control (NCPDC) will be located in the capital, Riyadh. The center will be located adjacent to the national laboratory of the ministry so that it can benefit from its facilities and services.
This center, Al-Rabeeah said, is expected to function on the lines of the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control (CDC), the United States’ health protection agency, which works 24/7 to protect America from health and safety threats, both foreign and domestic.
Al-Rabeeah said that his ministry has been following the ‘Patients First’ concept in all its programs for medics, paramedics and healthcare providers to offer satisfactory service to patients.
Saudi Health 2013 is also hosting seven conferences that have been accredited according to the criteria of continuous medical education (CME). These include the Saudi Radiology Technologists Conference, the Medical Laboratories Conference (MEDLAB), the Cardiology Conference, the Biomedical Engineering Conference, the Executive Nursing Conference, the Imaging Administration Conference and the Non-Communicable Diseases Conference. More than 1,000 delegates will be participating in these conferences.
The Saudi Health Exhibition and Conference 2013 is being held under the patronage of the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions, organizers of the world’s most important healthcare exhibition ‘Arab Health’, and the Riyadh Exhibitions Company (REC), organizers of the Saudi Medicare Exhibition for the last 15 years.
Arab News
13 May
