The Ministry of Health in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has introduced tough new regulations for private health facilities including separate change rooms for male and female patients, tighter controls on the charging of fees and higher sterilization and safety standards.
The ministry said that there should be separate change rooms at clinics where one-day procedures are carried out. These facilities must also inform patients what costs are entailed before starting any form of treatment.
All facilities must have equipment that would allow for the sterilization of a patient’s entire body, taking into account the provision of ventilation, air conditioning and safety procedures.
The ministry said intensive care units must be fully equipped, with beds not less than 10 percent of the total number of beds at the facility, and that recovery rooms, or post-anesthesia care units must be adjacent to surgery theaters.
Doctors must be licensed to practice one-day procedures. These licenses are typically valid for one year only. When the authorization expires, the practitioner has to submit a full report to the region’s health department on all surgeries administered during the year of practice.
Medical equipment provided by private health centers for one-day procedures should include operating theaters, direct halogen lights, general anesthesia devices, automatic ventilation equipment, electronic monitoring devices to record pulse and blood pressure and suction devices.
All recovery rooms must also be equipped with proper medical equipment, including electrocardiograms, cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment, intravenous fluids, ventilators and cardiac monitoring devices.