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42 conjoined twins have been successfully separated by Saudi Arabia’s former Minister of Health (Al Rabeeh 2009). The paediatric surgeon, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah, leads a team at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre specialising in these cases from all over the world. This is one example of the Kingdom’s investment in excellence.
Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell
Health care in Saudi Arabia is a national healthcare system in which the government provides free universal healthcare coverage through a number of government agencies. There is also a growing role and increased participation from the private sector in the provision of health care services. Saudi Arabia has been ranked among the 26 best countries in providing high-quality healthcare.
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Public vs private
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Saudi Arabia introduced universal health coverage in 2019, to ensure that every Saudi citizen and resident can access healthcare at no cost. Funding for the 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. The most complex treatments are handled at tertiary care hospitals, specialising in areas such as organ transplants and cancer therapy.
Despite significant improvements, the system faces ongoing challenges, including a shortage of healthcare professionals, insufficient preventive care, and notable disparities in healthcare access between urban and rural regions (Gurajala, 2023). To address these issues, the Saudi government launched the ‘Vision 2030 ’initiative, aimed at enhancing public services across various sectors, including healthcare.
As part of the initiative, in 2022, 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 shifts from service provision to supervisory and regulatory roles.
The HHC is 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.
Public vs private
The national PHR
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The Saudi Ministry of Health developed commissioned and launched the Sehhaty application which was initially launched in August 2019 to achieve a number of national goals that focus on healthy lifestyles. In February of 2021, the application app was updated to include COVID-19 vaccination appointment registration and test booking.On 2 Sep, 2022 Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) announced that the Sehhaty app has , 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 2nd September 2022, the MoH announced that Sehhaty had officially become the national platform for the individuals' healthcare needs of individuals. All government bodies in the health sector will be integrated with Sehhaty to provide health services through the app, according to the statement. The MoH made the announcement while . The ministry revealed plans to integrate all government 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 and make the Sehhaty app the national e-platform for providing healthcare services to individuals.
The agreement between the MoH and DGA aimed at several matters, such as merging the health sector apps and platforms and improving the beneficiary’s experience in the health sector as well as facilitating and accelerating the deal with the government bodies. Furthermore, it intends to provide consultation services with regard to digital government and achieve efficiency of digital spending for government services. The agreement will have a positive impact on the beneficiaries, as it would raise the satisfaction rate, increase the level of digital maturing, and unify data sources, in addition to achieving a better level of services.
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Sehhaty Platform:
It is the unified platform of the Ministry of Health, which allows users to access health information and obtain several health services provided by various entities in the health sector in Saudi Arabia.
Sehhaty platform serves all individuals, citizens, and residents in the Kingdom, 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 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with their dependents, including children, the elderly, or people and individuals with special needs. The service app is available in both Arabic and English.
The platform provides users in the Kingdom with a wide range of health services provided to facilitate the provision of integrated healthcare to individuals, and these services Key services provided by Sehhaty include:
Immediate virtual consultations.
Booking and reviewing appointments.
Remote appointments.
Search for medicationMedication 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 stepsStep counting.
Saving Maintaining a list of medicinesmedications.
Educational content.
Booking COVID-19 screening appointmentand vaccination appointments.COVID-19 vaccines appointment
Booking general vaccination appointments.
Vaccinations appointment
Early warning of weather conditions 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 Sehatty can’t see who accessed their record and when.
Sehhaty provides a comprehensive range of services but has some limitations that affect its overall functionality:
Lack of Access Log: Users cannot view an access log to track who has accessed their medical records or when, reducing transparency.
Limited Interoperability: The platform does not integrate with third-party software, restricting its ability to work seamlessly with other health-related apps and systems.
(PKB interviews, 2024)
Published outcomes - statistics
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any statistics about the use of Sehhaty in Saudi Arabia. If you have access to this information or can put us in touch with someone who has, please contact us at book@patientsknowbestbook@phr4gov.comorg
Screenshots
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Bibliography
Almodhen, F. and Moneir, W.M., 2023. Toward a Financially Sustainable Healthcare System in Saudi Arabia. Cureus, 15(10). Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10632744/ (accessed: 2 November 2024).
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Al Rabeeah, A.A., 2009. My experience with the conjoined twins (Arabic). Riyadh: Al Obeikan Co., Research and Development. Print.
Dawood, A. M., & Alkadi, K. S.
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. Saudi Arabia picks Sehhaty app as national e-platform for healthcare services. GCC Business News. Available at: https://www.gccbusinessnews.com/saudi-arabia-picks-sehhaty-app-as-national-e-platform-for-healthcare-services/
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Ministry of Health, 2021. Partnership Agreement with ‘Lean’. Available at: https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/Ministry/Partnerships/Pages/Lean-Company.
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