The city's primary health care centers will soon be classified into three categories according to quality of services offered. A committee headed by the Director General of Health Affairs in Jeddah has recommended such classification as part of overall plans to develop primary health care services in the city. Abdul Rahman Al-Sahafi, Media Relations head at the directorate, said the city's primary health care centers would be computerized and supported with equipment and manpower. ‘We have finished automation in centers at Suliemaniyah, Hamra, Rabwa, Marwa, Mada'in Al-Fahd, Bawadi, Al-Zahra and Al-Balad,” Sahafi said. “Patients visiting these nine centers in all can have the benefit of the quick service that computerization provides.” Four more primary health care centers in Al-Mahjar, Safa, Obhur and Braiman would soon join this list, he said. “Computerized processing has solved many problems,” he said. “Delays are avoided and patients referred from other hospitals can be admitted in record time since all information is instantly available.” Moreover, it also helps in getting accurate data on health care recipients, he added. Dr. Sami Ba-Dawood, director general of Jeddah Health Affairs has instructed the heads of health care centers to apply the committee's decisions and work accordingly without delay. Educated men and women between 20-35 years old and whose monthly income rate ranges from SR4,000 to SR6,000 are the most frequent users of these primary health care centers, according to a study conducted by Fatima Al-Qassim, a female Masters student at the King Abdul Aziz University. Jeddah, having a population of about three million, has 41 primary health care centers, the study said. __
