The Council for Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) has proposed a number of changes in the Health Institution Regulations. The Council's report requested an abolishment of a Health Ministry law mandating equal prices at all medical centers. In the report the Council suggested a system of price monitoring as an alternative in order to allow competition. The report criticized the complicated and contradictory procedures adopted by the ministry in issuing licenses. It proposed that a representatives of all related government departments be brought under the Administration for Medical Licenses to hasten procedures of issuing licenses. The report called on the ministry to stop implementing Paragraph Three of Article Two of the Health Institutions Regulation. The Article stipulates that only doctors can own medical centers or hospitals. It further requires the owner to supervise the center and be available full-time. The report said 90 percent of the owners are not doctors and the law would make their medical complexes illegal unless they include a Saudi doctor as a partner although the owners invested the full capital. It will also lead to Saudi doctors becoming partners on paper only in order to satisfy the legal requirements. The report also said existing complexes should appoint doctors in charge of technical installations without a nationality requirement. – Okaz __
