Emergency, Disasters and Ambulatory Transportation General Department organizes, develops and follows up on ensuring the provision of medical services in the Kingdom by promoting preparedness for responding to potential health risks, assessing them, preventing them, or mitigating their impact, providing necessary products, enhancing resources and capacities to prepare for emergencies, crises and disasters, confronting them, and managing them effectively and sustainably. This can be done by adopting a comprehensive approach that determines roles and responsibilities, to achieve a high level of participation, coordination and integration between relevant parties, enhancing the culture of risk and emergency management, business continuity and improving the quality of performance, establishing the principles of transparency, accountability and follow-up in health zones, and contributing to preserving regional health security in joint cooperation with the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The General department aims to develop a clear crisis response methodology and a national plan for managing health crises and disasters, and sharing it with regions, clusters and health facilities, as well as contributing to equipping and developing the ability to establish temporary shelters and field hospitals to enhance the capacity to respond through the Saudi Disaster Medical Assistance Teams.
National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Center is the executive body for technical affairs to achieve strategic objectives by managing core processes related to risks, emergencies, and business continuity in its various stages, according to the resilience cycle methodology, which includes anticipation and assessment, prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, business continuity, and supply chains.
The National Center is the main source of health information during health crises and disasters for decision-makers according to the levels of health emergency response, the region, the Ministry of Health or the Kingdom, led by the Disaster and Crisis Management Center of the National Risk Council according to the event assessment, based on the data recorded and monitored around the clock using the latest tools and technologies for communication with the relevant parties internally, and externally with the relevant sectors, while ensuring high quality that supports scientific research, policy development and decision-making. Therefore, the monitoring, surveillance and early warning system (Ta'ahop) governs a standard with a thoughtful approach to managing the information of the National Center in disasters and crises using business intelligence technology and dashboards. The data is protected, processed and stored to accomplish the basic function of the emergency management system in prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and enhancing the cycle of resilience and better building for the homeland, and providing the best possible health care for citizens and residents.
Strategic Objectives:
- Developing and promoting the readiness and response to health events and disasters.
- Enhancing international cooperation activities and scientific research for the management of health emergencies and disasters.
- Achieving excellence in the management of health crises and disasters and medical transportation.
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Ensuring the implementation of the resilience cycle including health risk management, emergencies, business continuity and supply chains
- Anticipating, assessing, prevent and mitigating risks, preparing for, responding to and recovering from health crises and disasters, and ensuring business continuity and resilience of supply chains
- Representing national committees related to disaster and health crisis management
- Communicate and coordinate with crisis and disaster centers
- Defining duties, roles and responsibilities and their governance to enhance the level of participation, coordination and integration with relevant and related parties
- Adopting the event management system approach including determining response and escalation levels to lead health events and disasters in participation and coordination with relevant parties
- Following up on monitoring, surveillance and early warning systems and managing warnings and sharing them with relevant parties
- Developing and following up on prevention and mitigation strategies, and identify, analyze and evaluate health risks and prepare and follow up on the implementation of emergency plans at the level of the Ministry of Health, its branches and clusters Health facilities in coordination with the relevant authorities and stakeholders according to the frameworks.
- Building capacities at the level of the leadership of the Ministry of Health, the relevant departments and the branches of the Ministry through training on various assumptions.
- Implementing national policies for information security and safety, which stipulate data protection, acceptable use, user access, protection from malware, network protection, third parties, and securing and preparing appropriate infrastructure to enhance sustainability and confidentiality
- Participating in coordinating the health services provided and enhancing the level of safety in official participations such as: presidential delegations, and human gatherings such as: conferences, exhibitions and events
- Promoting and enabling the dissemination of scientific research and evidence-based decisions in disaster and crisis management
- Contributing to raising community awareness regarding dealing with crises and disasters
- Promoting the culture of risk and emergency management, business continuity and raising the quality of performance at the Ministry of Health