1,000 physicians get scholarships Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, has granted approval for a health scholarship program under which 1,000 physicians and medical technicians will be sent abroad for further medical studies, the Minister of Health, Dr. Hamad Al-Mane', announced on Monday. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on the occasion of the third anniversary of the ascendancy of King Abdullah to the throne, the Minister said that a strategy had been devised to set up specialist hospitals in various parts of the country, and that arrangements were under way to operate 150 health centers, to complete ongoing projects at 420 health centers, and to implement new projects at 444 health centers in the near future. He said currently 213 government hospitals provided 30,317 beds employing the most sophisticated medical equipment. Dr. Al-Mane' pointed out that the implementation of the cooperative health insurance system was the cornerstone of reform in the health sector as it aimed at providing all citizens and residents with the required health care. In the field of preventive health care, he said the Ministry planned to make the Kingdom, which is now free of poliomyelitis, measles-free by the end of this year, and to completely eradicate bilharzia by the beginning of 2009. __
