Saudi Arabia’s King has approved a range of Saudi Health Council decisions including a decision to introduce a unified contact number for emergency CPR cases in the Kingdom. The 2222 number will be the single number for all emergency CPR cases in all Government and private hospitals in the country. It has been introduced to try to address concerns over the speed of medical responses in these cases. These decisions are in line with the goals of the National Transformation Plan (NTP) 2020. Another decision enrolling acute leukaemia treatment centres into the Ihalati Programme to oversee referrals has been approved. It will help these centres refer cases and will be implemented by the Health Ministry. Under the decision, reverse referrals from specialist centres to hospitals will be allowed but only for palliative treatment. In addition, the National Cancer Centre in the Council will have to prepare and submit a progress report three months after the approval of the Decision. A Decision introducing a national plan for developing quality and patient safety in health sectors has also been approved. It was prepared by the General Administration of National Health Economics and Policies on behalf of the Secretariat General of the Saudi Health Council together with the relevant Government and private health sectors. Full story
