Education for the Healthcare Sector Serves the Objectives of Vision 2030

Dr. Khaled Abdel Hamid Shehat said: CEO of the Virtual Medical Academy, the quality of life is one of the most important axes of the Kingdom''s Vision 2030, noting that the novel coronavirus pandemic has proven beyond any doubt that the quality of life standard is closely related to the health of the individual and society.

Having qualified health practitioners who are able to deal with various variables and crises is one of the most important capabilities for the health of the individual and society. However, health practitioners are in constant need of development and training to keep pace with the rapid developments that characterize the health care sector, which is full of research of all kinds, and which is witnessing a tremendous and rapid growth in information and expertise.

Virtual Medical Academy

Dr. Khaled Abdel Hamid Al Shahat

The expert in the field of training and virtual education stressed that vocational development and training “contribute to enriching the quality of the entire health system,” noting that the global crisis played a key role in accelerating the digital transformation, and demonstrated the effectiveness of e-learning. He explained that the health system was able to train more and faster numbers with high efficiency and effectiveness, which urges the continuation and expansion of benefiting from virtual and blended education in the post-pandemic stage.

Dr. Shahat said that the academy''s experience during the pandemic was effective, as the health sector participated in providing free training programs based on its social responsibility and to achieve its mission that seeks to improve the quality of human life. The academy presented more than 140 virtual events that benefited more than 200,000 health practitioners in the Kingdom in just four months. He added, "We have greatly witnessed the ability of virtual education to enable health practitioners to obtain information at a higher speed, greater accuracy and better quality, compared to traditional training."

He went on to say: “We at the Virtual Medical Academy look forward to contributing strongly to the realization of the Kingdom’s vision 2030 and the government’s direction to partner with the private sector within the initiative of His Highness the Crown Prince “Partner” through partnership with various agencies working in the field of health care and related to it, from government institutions Academic entities and private companies, by providing them with virtual education tools and virtual training programs to empower health practitioners, which ensures them efficiency in providing superior health care, which makes us contribute to achieving the national vision according to the highest modern scientific and specialized standards, based on our mission that is based on raising the efficiency of human life".

Today, the Virtual Medical Academy is the largest entity in e-education and training in the health care sector in the Kingdom, and the number of health practitioners registered on this platform has reached more than 270,000 practitioners, out of 500,000 registered health practitioners in the Kingdom, or 55 percent. Makes the Virtual Medical Academy poised to become the most prominent enabler and leader in its field over the next few years.

Since its launch in 2013, the Virtual Medical Academy has been running an advanced and integrated digital interactive platform for specialized health education and training developed by national competencies within the academy.

The Virtual Medical Academy contributed to leading the change in the culture of e-learning as a new type of education in the health field, and the start of the adoption of e-learning in the Kingdom, as the academy is the first accredited e-learning body in the health sector. The Academy had participated in the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, as the relevant legislative body, in setting accreditation regulations for e-learning.