The Saudi Center for Evidence Based Healthcare (EBHC) affiliated to the Ministry of Health (MOH) organized yesterday in collaboration with the experts from McMaster University in Canada, the second workshop on clinical practice guidelines (the 2nd meeting of the experts’ team for developing clinical practice guidelines 2015). The workshop aims at finalizing 12 clinical guidelines for this year and targets all consultants from all specialties.
In his speech before the opening session, His Excellency the Chairman of the Saudi Society for Evidence –Based Health Care (Borhan) and the Director-General of the Executive Board of the GCC Health Ministers Council, Dr. Tawfiq bin Ahmed Khoja, extended his thanks to His Excellency the Minister of Health, Mr. Ahmad bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb, for his continuous support for all the activities of the national scientific and developmental committees and his deep belief in them as a main entrance to improving the quality of health services, lauding the effective role undertaken by EBHC in this regard.
Meanwhile, Dr. Khoja praised the health leadership in all sectors for their interest in developing a clear vision to build an integrated healthy, physically- and mentally-sound community, underlining that the comprehensive concept of evidence based healthcare has become a clear scientific and international fact to face the challenges of the successive informatics developments and the modern medical technologies.
Moreover, Dr. Khoja emphasized that the MOH is seeking to make the adoption of clinical practice guidelines a leading reference in the Kingdom, expressing his hope for this move to include the sister GCC states through continuous training and awareness campaigns. He also stressed the bad need to form specialized scientific committees on the bases of constructive cooperation, and focus on the real requirements of the patient, taking into consideration their quality and safety. He lauded the adoption of 10 clinical practice guidelines in the past year, and called for building bridges of joint cooperation with all GCC countries in order to adopt and familiarize the approved clinical practices guidelines.
This was followed by the speech of Dr. Suhail Salem Ba-Jamal, the Director of King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC) in Makkah, who stressed the importance of such annual scientific meetings, which contribute to developing evidence based healthcare at the Ministry of Health. He added that such gathering aim at adopting clinical practice guidelines to be used in preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and the service provided at all levels of the healthcare system in the Kingdom, as well as enacting laws and setting the necessary systems for their enforcement in the health facilities, striving to make the Saudi Center for Evidence Based Healthcare (EBHC( the leading reference in adopting clinical practice guidelines at the level of the Kingdom on bases of cooperation and professionalism, in addition to focusing on the requirements of the patient, taking into account principles of quality and transparency.
In her speech before the opening session, the Professor of Family Medicine at King Saud University, Member of the Guidelines International Network (GIN) Board of Trustees and Member of the Shoura Council, Dr. Lubna A. Al-Ansari, extended her thanks to the organizers of this workshop and all those in charge of preparing for this event.
She extended her special thanks also to the Saudi Center for Evidence Based Healthcare for inviting her to attend this occasion as a member in the GIN Board of Trustees, which aim at supporting international cooperation with regard to preparation of guideline rules and their conformity to local use; that is to be added to putting them into practice by setting excellence standards for exchanging expertise and creating work groups, each one of them is concerned with a specific side.
Dr. Lubna added that the main objective is to provide effective and secure care for the patients as the membership of organization is limited only to institutions working in the field of guideline rules and not individuals. She noted that the membership of this organization includes 100 institutions from 48 countries, explaining that they have prepared 27 guideline rules, including more than 200 recommendations.
Within the same vein, the Head of the Saudi Center for Evidence Based Health Care, Dr. Zulfa Ahmad Al Rayess, explained in her speech that the center aimed at adopting clinical practice guidelines to be used in preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and the service provided at all levels of the healthcare system in the Kingdom, as well as enacting laws and setting the necessary systems for their enforcement in the health facilities, striving to make the Saudi Center for Evidence Based Healthcare (EBHC( the leading reference in adopting clinical practice guidelines at the level of the Kingdom through training and awareness campaigns, forming specialized medical committees on bases of cooperation and professionalism, and focusing on the requirements of the patient, taking into account principles of quality and transparency.
Dr. Zulfa further noted that the Center's strategic objectives focus on the promotion and commitment to the culture of guidelines through organizing foundation courses that shed light on the importance of adopting and implementing such guidelines at all MOH health facilities. Besides, the Center’s strategic objectives aim at shaping skills, assisting in adopting the globally-accredited guidelines, in collaboration with the international bodies with expertise in this area, as well as the promoting and developing the culture of evidence-based medicine through offering training and qualifying courses for the staff and the targeted health practitioners.
Concluding her speech, Dr. Zulfa said that the Center finalized 10 guidelines while opening the 1st workshop on clinical practice guidelines in the past year, which were approved and circulated to all regions to be officially applied in the clinical practice, adding that 12 clinical guidelines will be adopted and approved this year.