A prominent Saudi health care expert said that Saudi Arabia could become the hub for top quality health care in the Middle East if it continues to encourage the private health care sector.
This was expressed at a session on positioning the Kingdom as an internationally recognized health care hub at the Kingdom Healthcare Expansion and Investment Summit conference and exhibition launched on Sunday at Park Hyatt in Jeddah.
Sobhi Batterjee, chairman of Saudi-German Hospitals Group, cited many factors that could contribute to this.
“The country has established an effective quality-monitoring system in addition to advanced health care infrastructure and facilities, plus the availability or the easiness of getting high level medical and paramedical professionals in the country, whether nationals or expatriates,” he said.
The participants included experts, senior officials, health care professionals and administrators and investors in the health care sector from the Kingdom and abroad.
On Monday the conference will tackle the push for privatization by discussing shaping the Kingdom’s health care sector through private sector investment and expansion.
The conference has on its sideline an exhibition in which the latest medical technologies and services is being displayed by a number of major companies in health care field. These companies include Reza Hygiene, Eli lilly, Saudi Binladin Group, Schneider electric, Outcomes Health Informatics and others.
SAEED AL-KHOTANI
Arab News