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Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell
Saudi Arabia has introduced universal health coverage in 2019, ensuring to ensure that every Saudi citizen and resident can access healthcare at no cost. Funding for the MOH Ministry of Health primarily derives from the annual government budget, which is largely supported by oil revenues (Almodhen and Moneir, 2023)
The healthcare system is structured into three levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary care. Primary care is offered through primary healthcare centres (PHCs), which deliver essential services such as preventive care, health education, and screening. Secondary care is provided by hospitals and specialised centres that offer more advanced services, including diagnostic procedures, surgical operations, and emergency care. For the The most complex treatments , are handled at tertiary care is available at specialised hospitals that focus on procedures hospitals, specialising in areas such as organ transplants and cancer therapy.
Despite these advancementssignificant improvements, the system faces several ongoing challenges, such as including a shortage of healthcare professionals, insufficient preventive care, and significant health notable disparities in healthcare access between urban and rural areas . regions (Gurajala, 2023) These challenges are addressed in . To address these issues, the Saudi government launched the ‘Vision 2030’ initiative ’initiative, a government programme aimed at improving enhancing public service sectorsservices across various sectors, including healthcare.
As part of the initiative, in 2022, Saudi Arabia's the Ministry of Health established the Health Holding Company (HHC), a state-owned enterprise designed to transform the nation's healthcare system. The HHC's mandate includes taking over the provision of healthcare services, while the Ministry’s role is shifting from service provision to supervisory and regulatory roleroles.
Key reforms that The HHC is responsible for implementing include: leading several key reforms, including:
Decentralisation: the HHC is responsible for creating and delegating the delivery of healthcare services to approximately 20 regional clusters, to encourage local involvement and improve responsiveness to community needs.
Privatisation: the HHC will privatise numerous hospitals and primary health centres.
Digitisation: the strategy includes a push towards digital healthcare, enhancing data interoperability and expanding access to digital and virtual medical services. This is particularly crucial for the roughly 16% of the population living in remote areas with limited healthcare services access.
Specialised Care Services: the HHC will offer specialised services such as cancer care, renal rehabilitation, and critical care in cardiology and trauma. A new Model of Care, encompassing 42 interventions across six healthcare systems, aims to standardise and improve treatment based on evidence-based practices.
Community Health: The HHC will also focus on disease prevention and early detection, aiming to improve community health across the country.
Workforce Development: The transformation plan includes workforce planning and development, with an emphasis on improving training standards and ensuring an adequate supply of healthcare professionals to meet the country's growing needs.
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The Saudi Ministry of Health commissioned and launched the Sehhaty application in August 2019 to achieve a number of national goals that focus on healthy lifestyles. In February of 2021, they the app was updated the application to include COVID-19 vaccination appointment registration and test booking, expanding its role in the nation's pandemic response.
The development of the application has been carried out by Lean Business Services, a state-owned enterprise (Ministry of Health, 2021).
On the 2nd of September 2022, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) the MoH announced that the Sehhaty app has had officially become the national platform for the individuals' healthcare needs of individuals, and that . The ministry revealed plans to integrate all government bodies in the health sector were going to be integrated with Sehhaty to provide health services through the app.The MoH made the announcement while health bodies with Sehhaty, ensuring the app would serve as a comprehensive platform for delivering health services.
This announcement coincided with the MoH signing a cooperation agreement with the Digital Government Authority (DGA) in order to merge all , marking the merger of various health sector platforms (including XXX) and make the Sehhaty app the national e-platform for providing healthcare services to individuals.
The agreement was aimed at positively impacting patients: through the unification of data sources, its goal is to achieve a better level of services in the healthcare sector, ultimately increasing patients' satisfaction rate.
into Sehhaty. The integration aimed to centralise health data sources, improve service quality, and ultimately enhance patient satisfaction (Joseph, 2022).
Features
The Sehhaty platform serves all residents in of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with their dependents: , including children, the elderly, or people and individuals with special needs. The app is available in both Arabic and English.
Sehhaty’s Key services provided by Sehhaty include:
Immediate virtual consultations.
Booking and reviewing appointments.
Remote appointments.Search for medication.
Medication search
Digital Health Wallet.
Review Viewing sick leaves leave and medical reports.
Women's Women’s health .services
Dependents’ services.
A dedicated primary care doctor for each family member (My Doctor).
Record Records of children's vaccinations and appointments
Following-up Monitoring vital signs (via the "Know Your Numbers" service).
Counting steps.
Saving Step counting
Maintaining a list of medicines.medications
Educational content.
Booking COVID-19 screening appointment.
COVID-19 vaccines appointment.
Vaccinations appointment
Early warning of weather conditions for asthmatics.and vaccination appointments
Booking general vaccination appointments
Early weather condition alerts for asthmatics
Challenges and areas for improvement
There is no ability for patients to view an access log i.e. unlike other platforms, users of Sehhaty can’t see who accessed their record and when. Sehhaty does not integrate software made by other partiesWhile Sehhaty offers a wide range of services, there are areas that could be improved. For instance, the platform lacks an access log, meaning users cannot view who accessed their medical records or when. Additionally, Sehhaty does not integrate with third-party software, limiting interoperability with other health-related apps or systems.
Published outcomes - statistics
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