With reference to your article “KFSHs plagued by poor management, new Director” (Saudi Gazette, Saturday), I would like to clarify that the information stated in the article was inaccurate and misleading. The headline of the article is incorrect since a new director of the hospital has not been appointed. What took place was restructuring of the Board of Directors as per the timeframe set forth by the Charter of the General Organization. The article states that King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre General Organization, Riyadh (KFSH&RC), has been suffering from a budget deficit estimated at SR600 million. On the contrary, the hospital in 2006 was able to completely settle all its debts of over SR600 million that it had accumulated over the past years and this was based on the directive from King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Also, in the same year, the hospital was able to reach zero disparity between its expenditure and budget which is a significant achievement and no additional funds were requested from the Ministry of Finance for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007, a first for the Hospital in many years. With respect to the statement made in the article that we are over-staffed with 8,000 employees was rash and without substance. The number of staff in 1987 was 4,000 and the number of beds 470 whereas the outpatient appointments were 323,000. Approximately two decades later in 2006 the number of staff reached 8,000 and beds 852, whereas the number of outpatient visits reached 650,000 appointments, a reasonable proportionate increase; reflecting an increase in the services which the hospital has been mandated by higher authorities. The hospital is also currently administering approximately over 61,000 day care procedures, surgeries and other day activities as well as assessing 2,400 non-KFSH&RC patients and performing approximately 700 surgeries off campus as part of our health outreach activities which was not the case in 1987. Additionally, the hospital, on an average, conducts one transplant in less than 24 hours whether bone marrow, renal, liver and heart with outcome similar to international centers. This significant increase in the number of sub-specialty services that is illustrated, but not limited to the above, required additional resources whether human or financial in nature. It is also important to realize that a quarter of the workforce is support service staff (Maintenance, Environmental, Food Services, Transport and Security) providing in-house, and not out-sourced, services to ensure a high standard of non-interrupted, essential support to our medical and clinical operations. In 2005 a re-organization took place at the Hospital and the number of Executive Directors was reduced to 4. KFSH&RC General Organization, Riyadh, enjoys an excellent international reputation and a very prominent regional presence and has won a number of prizes in this regard. We are also a Centre of Academic Excellence with over 67 Residency and Fellowship Programmes and have an active internationally recognized research centre. The Hospital is also accredited by the Joint Commission for International Accreditation (JCIA) as well as the American Academy of Continuous Medical Education and the College of American Pathologists and several others. The hospital also ranks first with respect to the number of pediatric bone marrow transplants among 152 international centres for the year 2004 and also ranks first among 156 centres in 2005 based on a letter that we received dated 25 January 2007 from the Centre for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. At the end of the day what really matters is patient satisfaction, for the Outpatient Clinic, the Outpatient Average Satisfaction Survey scores 90% whereas the Inpatient clinic scores at 91%. It is important to keep in mind that the expenditure is challenging and requires an intensive human resource since we are treating tertiary care patients often with advanced disease and multiple problems that require intensive care by the Consultants, Nursing and Clinical staff often despensing extremely expensive medication that could cost up to 1m Saudi Riyals per patient. The health care sector is also not immune from the global inflation that has taken place in this costly industry driven by the advance of technology and cutting edge medications. I would like to reaffirm that the newly appointed Board of Directors, with Dr Fahad Al Abdul Jabbar as Chairman of the Board, are diligently facing the new challenges created by the amalgamation of the Jeddah Specialist Hospital and to raise the already excellent standards in Riyadh to a higher level of performance. In conclusion, this misunderstanding may have taken place as a result of the amalgamation of the Specialist Hospital in Jeddah with KFSH&RC General Organization in Riyadh. I also recommend when any critique is made about any organization regardless of whether it is in the health sector or otherwise that a comparison is made with similar institutions in the same sector providing similar services both at the national and international levels as this will provide the article with appropriate credibility. Qasim Al-Qasabi, MD Chief Executive Director, Secretary General of the Board of DirectorsEditor's note The article was translated from Al-Watan Arabic newspaper. Thanks for presenting your version. __
