Dammam: Obaid Al Suhaimi
The director of health affairs in the eastern region, Dr. Aqeel Jamaan Al-Ghamdi, told Asharq Al-Awsat that health affairs have now ended with the problem of Dammam Central Hospital, with the end of the medical tower project that will solve the problem of the dilapidated building that has become dangerous for its workers and auditors. Al-Ghamdi said that the Health Affairs Directorate is currently working on furnishing the tower and the hospital will move completely to the medical tower in a period of three to six months.
Al-Ghamdi indicated that if the entire hospital moves to the new building, health affairs will demolish the old building and expand the emergency building to three times its current area. This project was approved within the health affairs budget, noting that businessmen in the eastern region contributed 25 million riyals In the costs of the medical tower, confirming that the hospital life span at the present time is over. Dr. Al-Ghamdi said in his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that the directorate is currently working on implementing four additional towers within the vicinity of Dammam Central Hospital, including a dental tower that cost 13.5 million riyals, and a tower for infectious diseases. Health affairs are still negotiating with the businessman who sponsors it On the final form of the project, stressing that health affairs have completed the development of perceptions that the tower will be · and two towers for training and education, where health affairs will open an institute for training · and another tower will be the headquarters of medical committees and a center for diabetics.
Al-Ghamdi stated that the King Fahd Specialist Hospital project was supervised by the Health Affairs Directorate only in terms of start-up, and the hospital is subject to a self-operational program and has no relationship to the health affairs budget.
In an interview with reporters, Dr. Al-Ghamdi said that the Prince Mohammed bin Fahd campaign, which was implemented by the health affairs in the eastern region and participated in 230,000 citizens and residents, revealed many facts that will be announced in a detailed medical report, the most important of which is that the prevalence of diabetes is much lower than what is promoted by Figures, where some of these numbers describe that diabetics make up 25 percent of the Saudi population, indicating that this campaign revealed the level of diabetes in the eastern region, which is far less than these numbers.
Al-Ghamdi indicated that the decision to return technicians assigned to administrative tasks has been implemented, which is a program adopted by the Ministry in order to work in each of its specialization. He also mentioned that the issue of rotating positions to serve the work and health affairs will be implemented by all employees.
And Dr. Al-Ghamdi indicated that health affairs will end this year from converting more than half of the health centers in the eastern region to model centers. Al-Ghamdi said: “During the next eight months we will finish converting 113 health centers into model centers, of which six were donated by philanthropists. This is out of 200 health centers. · Al-Ghamdi expected that health affairs will finish converting their centers to model centers within approximately two years.
On the other hand, Al-Ghamdi said that home hemodialysis is currently implemented for 27 patients at an annual cost of 88,000 riyals per patient, stressing that the goal is to serve a hundred patients during this year in the eastern region, as he mentioned that this project provides construction of dialysis centers, as it provides The costs of operating and maintaining these centers, in addition to the patient''s psychological comfort as a result of his service in his home, hoping that the Ministry of Health will adopt this project as a national project.
Al-Ghamdi stated that there is a committee in the health affairs in the eastern region that was set up to develop an annual scholarship plan, to raise the Saudization ratios to the level of 100 per cent. Al-Ghamdi said: Now our Saudization ratios in the dental and physical therapy sector are 100 per cent, and nursing 50 per cent, And doctors, 30 per cent, indicating that there is a major expansion in health services in the eastern region. For example, the number of hospitals jumped from 17 three years ago to 27 hospitals now, and nearly five hospitals will join this number during the coming period.
