Muhammad Al-Ghamdi Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH – The Ministry of Health has admitted to the poor performance of health practitioners who have joined work recently and a critical shortage in manpower and equipment in the primary health care centers. In a report to the Shoura Council, the ministry said that it was also facing the problem of high operating costs in running hospitals and employing highly efficient health professionals. In response, the Shoura Council demanded that the ministry provide it with detailed information and statistics on the current status of health services, the number of hospitals and health centers, hospital bed capacity compared to the population that these facilities serve in every city and the ministry's plans for tackling the deficiency in the distribution of health services in the Kingdom. The Shoura Council also asked for available specializations and the hospitals being constructed at present. The ministry should overcome the obstacles facing the operation of the national laboratory. Among other recommendations, the Shoura Council said the ministry ought to provide advanced centers in all regions of the Kingdom to diagnose all kinds of autism cases so as to ensure early intervention and provide the necessary treatment and rehabilitation to autistic patients. It should pay full housing allowance without conditions to each deserving national whether he/she be a doctor or a dentist, according to the regulations if the facility employing him/her does not provide accommodation. The Shoura Council called for expansion in the joint medical cooperation program for the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital. Obstacles on the way to carrying out this expansion should be overcome, it said.
