On Thursday morning, February 2, 2011, HE the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabeeah, will launch a three-day program to celebrate the safe return of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The campaign, known as “Salamat,” commemorates the King’s successful surgery and return to the Kingdom.
Salamat will include many special events and activities, and will highlight the healthcare achievements accomplished during the King’s reign.
During the celebration, medical teams will visit airports, prominent media foundations and Chambers of Commerce and Industry Headquarters to provide citizens with an array of biometric services, including hypertension, diabetes and BMI screenings. These services will also be available at selected shopping malls, parks and schools. Brochures will be distributed on a variety of healthcare topics, and blood donation centers will also be operating.
Dr. Khalid Marglani, the General Manager of Information and Health Awareness and the official spokesman for MOH, announced that the Minister of Health, MOH deputies, health affairs general directors, and hospital managers will visit not only patients in the Kingdom’s hospitals, but also patients in private homes who are receiving care through the Domestic Medicine Program. Each patient in the Kingdom, as well as Saudi patients abroad, will receive a letter from His Highness conveying his best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Dr. Marglani also said that additional medical teams will be sent to primary, elementary and secondary schools in all regions of the Kingdom. The teams will measure health biomarkers and also introduce students to preventive healthcare practices in such areas as oral and dental health and healthy nutrition. Students will also receive awareness publications and brochures.
Dr. Marglani also asserted that MOH will release a number of publications introducing health projects implemented during the reign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. Some of these projects have already been launched, while others are approved but have not yet been implemented. Included in these publications will be information about the Patient Relations Program, designed to be a link between MOH and patients to resolve patients’ concerns and to provide them with appropriate healthcare services.
Another is the Clinical Checkup Program, which aims to enhance the efficiency of the Kingdom’s healthcare facilities. The Health Facilities Credence Program ensures that healthcare facilities comply with all patient safety and quality standards. The Domestic Medicine Program aims to provide curative, preventive, rehabilitative and health awareness services from qualified medical teams to patients in their own homes. And the goal of the Bed Management Program is to reach the optimal usage of beds and one-day surgeries.
"Get Well Soon" billboards will be on display at many hospitals, as well as at MOH divan and health directorates. A health achievements report and photos will also be issued for the occasion.
The Information and Health Awareness Center will host a number of medical consultants in various specialties through its toll-free number (8002494444) to answer people's health inquiries for three days beginning the day following the King’s arrival.
Also, inpatient visiting hours in all MOH hospitals and facilities will be expanded from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for a period of three days, beginning on the day of the King’s arrival.