Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Board of Directors of the state-owned Health Holding Company (HHC) approved the organizational structures for the health clusters. The board meeting, chaired by Minister of Health Fahd Al-Jalajel, stressed the importance of implementing the government’s directives to continue free treatment for all citizens and make access to enhanced quality and efficient health services for them.

The meeting discussed the preparations for the launch of the second phase of transformation in the Ministry of Health, with identifying three health clusters as the first batch to move to HHC. The board stressed the importance of completing the application of the modern healthcare model that it provides to health clusters, as well as to improve the quality of health services, and take priority for human health before illness.

The board meeting took a number of important decisions. It approved the regulations for the placement of employees, who will move from the Ministry of Health to the company, provided that the salary of any employee is not less than what he was receiving before the transfer, in accordance with Cabinet Resolution No. 616. The board endorsed that civil service employees shall be availed of the benefits after the transfer in accordance with the Law of Benefits Exchange between the Civil and Military Pension Laws and the Social Insurance Law. The service of self-employed staff is also considered complementary after the transfer, according to the decision.

The board drew attention to the company’s efforts to improve health services for all and ensure the quality of sustainable healthcare to place the Kingdom on the global healthcare map.

The meeting highlighted the importance of investing in and maintaining employees, as it developed a training program that improve the employees’ skills and leadership needs, in order to effectively perform their mission of providing high-quality healthcare in the next phase, which requires providing all health services to beneficiaries.

It is noteworthy that the first phase of the health transformation was completed by the Ministry of Health by the end of 2023 with the launch of 20 health clusters to serve beneficiaries in various regions of the Kingdom. Eight paths of the modern healthcare model were implemented, which include heart attack path, the stroke path, the early detection path for breast cancer, early detection path for colon cancer, serious injuries path, the obesity path in adults, the diabetes path in adults, and the palliative care path.

More than 20 million beneficiaries have been registered in primary healthcare centers across the Kingdom. There are nine urgent care centers compatible with the requirements of the Ministry of Health opened in health clusters. The virtual care level and home care services have also been activated to reduce the duration of therapeutic intervention, bring down the waiting time for elective operations, and increase diabetes control by 70 percent in some health clusters. Many cases of colorectal and breast cancer were discovered at an early stage, which contributed to the speedy provision of healthcare, reducing the effects of late diagnosis, and increasing the satisfaction rate of beneficiaries.

The HHC was created, in line with a decision of the Saudi Council of Ministers, to take over healthcare services normally provided and managed by the Ministry of Health (MoH). It focuses on providing medical services and care via health clusters, a set of independent companies that focus on specialist services. The MoH will instead focus on regulating and supervising all public and private health institutions in the nation. The move comes as part of the Kingdom’s plans to improve the overall performance of the Saudi healthcare system, with the HHC focusing on areas such as expanding digital health programs and virtual medical services.