National E- Health Strategy

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E-Health

Electronic Health (E-health), defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the unified usage for information technology and electronic communications in the health sector.

All over the world, countries adopt electronic health systems; in order to upgrade health care providing and its planning. As such, the drive of the e-health investments are centered on providing a clinical value and supporting the work needs.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has a number of objectives and initiatives which can be achieved through the e-health.

The Ministry of Health is working on implementing a highly ambitious program; in order to achieve its innovative vision for e-health: "safe, efficient health system, based on the care centered on a patient, standard-oriented, and supported by the e-health". The MOH seeks to achieve tangible progress on the e-health field through its strategies which launched at the beginning of 2011 within a relatively short timeframe; at two phases: each one extends for five years, the matter of which only few countries managed to achieve it. However, MOH began great steps in this regard towards shift to E-transactions.

This strategy and its roadmap provide a strong planning for fully fledged group of projects aiming at realizing this vision. There will be challenges for the program management, for the beginning of the change process at the Ministry of Health (MOH) and its maintenance, mobilizing the service providers and staff, in order to cope with the scope of the program and its timeframe.

The big, likely challenge lies in the process of person changing and addressing process required from the MOH. And the thing which cannot be underestimated or belittled is the significance of the existence of a comprehensive governance model, along with clear outlines related to liability and a program for change managing distinguished with resilience and aptness to develop.

Hence, the e-health is to provide huge benefits for both the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.