Several government agencies have taken effective steps toward transforming into paperless agencies. However, the effort has been plagued by delays and promises of full e-governance remain unfulfilled, Al-Riyadh daily reported.
For the past ten years, the Saudi media has extensively covered this transformation and many observers expected most government agencies to be providing e-services by 2015.
Instead, many agencies today still lack the necessary technology to make the transformation. Citizens are still eager to see the day when they can go to a government agency and get their transactions processed electronically without having to use wasta (influence/nepotism) or manually file paperwork that can take days and in some cases, weeks, to process.
More needs to be done
Mansour Al-Tubaiqi, an official at the Ministry of Health, said the developed world has taken major steps toward moving away from paper-based to paperless transactions.
According to Al-Tubaiqi, public and private institutions in developed countries use advanced technology to streamline their operations and provide modern services to the general public, something the Kingdom should also strive to achieve.
“Let's talk about the health sector in our country. It's unacceptable that the sector doesn't have an e-system that contains the records of all patients with information on diagnosis, medical history, investigations and medications.
“Such a system should be linked to a central network through which a doctor can view the patient's record at anytime, anywhere,” said Al-Tubaiqi while adding that such a system will enhance the safety of patients and prevent hospitals form conducting medical operations the patient has undergone somewhere else.
“In today's developed world, it is unacceptable for doctors to scribble illegibly on prescriptions causing a pharmacist to get confused and give the wrong medication to a patient. Doctors in the developed world do not give hand-written prescriptions; they generate computerized copies,” Al-Tubaiqi said.
The same is true for medical supplies and equipment; everything is done electronically when it comes to placing orders, displaying specifications and needed quantities. Consequently, medical departments are able to access information easily.
Citizen Muhammad Momina said there is no justification for government agencies to still use the outdated paper-based system. He questioned why so many agencies have failed to adopt an e-system to manage all transactions and achieve transparency.
“Whenever I need to go to a government agency, I have to take a few hours off of work and sometimes that isn't enough because the employee who is supposed to process the transaction may not be at his desk. In such situations, citizens are asked to come back at a later time, which isn't easy especially for those of us who have jobs,” he said.
“If these agencies had electronic systems, they would save citizens the time and trouble of physically going to the agency and submitting documents. It is incumbent upon concerned authorities in charge of monitoring the performance of government agencies to make agencies adopt an e-system,” he added.
Businessman Muhammad Al-Qathami said most government employees care more about how they can make their bosses happy than serving citizens. To tackle such attitudes, Al-Qathami said it is imperative that citizens be given the chance to evaluate the performance of government agencies as this will help them improve their performance.
“Unfortunately, this is common in the majority of government agencies; employees and their bosses do not understand or realize that the value of their work is determined by the services they provide to citizens. If managers realized this, they would develop the necessary means and would use advanced technology to render these services.
A shining example
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has succeeded in offering over 120 e-services through Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Google+ to citizens. It has also set up phone numbers for the public to report offenses and violations.
A consumer can report a violation by taking a picture of it using a smart phone and send it directly the ministry, which will then investigate.
