Under the supervision of the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabeeah, the Ministry actively pursues ways to provide a full range of healthcare services for patients in all areas of the Kingdom. Because some specialized medical services are only required by a small sector of the population, it is not always possible to employ physicians on a full-time to provide care for rare, infrequently-encountered conditions.
To ensure that all patients, regardless to their medical needs or location, can receive specialized care, the MOH has devised a program to hire distinguished Egyptian consultants on an as-needed basis in hospitals throughout the Kingdom
Assistant Undersecretary for Curative Medicine, Dr. Aqeel Al Ghamdi, explained that this group of physicians includes highly-qualified male and female consultants in various subspecialties.
The Ministry is hiring highly-qualified local consultants on part-time contracts within temporary medical support programs to work in a number of central and referral hospitals, especially in remote areas. This new group includes 70 Egyptian consultants who have been dispersed to hospitals all over the Kingdom according to the healthcare needs of the public. This program was developed using information obtained in a study carried out as a part of the MOH’s strategic plan.
Dr. Al Ghamdi pointed out that this group may include such subspecialties as: spinal and neurosurgery, nephrology surgery, urology surgery, orthopedic surgery, spine and neurosurgery, plastic surgery, burn restoration, ophthalmology and eye surgery, pediatric surgery, thoracic surgery, laparoscopic surgery, anesthesiology, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatric cardiology, newborn diseases, nephrology, ENT, diagnostic radiology, emergency medicine and laboratory medicine.
Health Affairs Directorates coordinated with the hospitals targeted by the program to find ways to best utilize the medical expertise of these consultants. Not only will they treat patients, but they will also contribute to the Kingdom’s overall healthcare system by presenting lectures and workshops in their areas of expertise. Having additional consultants will also decrease the number of referrals and appointments in central and referral hospitals.
Moreover, he added that more groups of consultants will be hired on part-time contracts in the future to fulfill the needs of various regional hospitals. More efforts are being made to enhance the program by hiring additional specialized foreign consultants to support hospitals all over the Kingdom. These consultants will be distributed to central and referral hospitals in various regions, always with the goal of achieving the Minister of Health’s directive to fulfill all of the public’s healthcare needs.