Healthcare | Thursday 1 January, 2015 9:53 am |

New Health Minister Mohammed Ali Alhayazie has ordered all government and private hospitals to treat patients needing emergency care, and warned that there would be penalties for those failing to comply.
In a circular issued to health facilities on Wednesday, Alhayazie said that they must provide emergency treatment, whether the patient was brought in by a Red Crescent ambulance or another vehicle.
He said officials at government facilities who do not comply would face disciplinary action, while private hospitals would be fined heavily and closed for repeat offenses.
The order comes in the wake of reports that many private hospitals have been refusing to treat citizens and expatriates if they do not have medical insurance.
Some hospital officials have refused to accept emergency cases saying that they do not have beds available or staff for certain specializations.
Private facilities have reportedly refused because they fear that if a person dies during treatment no one would want to settle the hospital bill.
Sources said the chairman of the Red Crescent Society had also complained to the ministry about some hospitals refusing to treat emergency patients transported in Red Crescent ambulances.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry launched Tuesday its overseas scholarship program for 2015. The program offers 750 scholarships for Saudi staff at ministry hospitals to obtain undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
The specialties include medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacology, respiratory therapy, radiology, emergency and intensive care, laboratory and blood banks, clinical nutrition, nuclear therapy, physical rehabilitation, functional therapy, artificial organ parts, health management, information technology and health education.
Khalid Al-Marghalani, spokesman of the ministry, told Arab News that around 50 percent of the scholarships have been allocated to physicians with the remainder for other health care workers.
He said that these scholarships are part of the ministry’s plans to develop high caliber health and administrative personnel competent to offer the best possible public health services.
“Applications should be accompanied by an initial admission letter from a university on the Saudi higher education list of approved universities abroad, within three months of the application,” he said.
He said applicants should submit their applications on the ministry’s portal www.moh.gov.sa, from Jan. 4, for two months.