The Director-General of Home Medicine, Dr. Nasser bin Salah Al-Huzaim, said that the Ministry of Health (MOH) has provided home medicine services to more than 22000 patients across the Kingdom's regions and governorates till the end of 1433H. He has also affirmed that the Home Health Care Program (also known as: Home Medicine) has been acclaimed and widely adopted by a lot of patients and their families. This in turn has encouraged intensifying patient-oriented programs.
He further pointed out that the Program aims at providing health, curative, preventive, rehabilitative, nutritional, social, and awareness services to patients at their homes. This is through medical teams prepared to carry out these activities according to patient's health status through scheduled visits. He went on to point out that the Program has been created upon the decision of his Excellency the Minister of Health on Rabī` al-Ākhir, 1430H; in order to provide its health services to patients in an inclusive way at their homes, allay the suffering of their frequenting to hospitals, and save beds for other patients as well, in a dire need for a bed.
Within the same vein, Dr. Al-Huzaim added that the Program is in force in 170 of the MOH's hospitals, and 1295 staffers work for it. It is carried out by 262 medical teams. Moreover, 269 vehicles have been secured to transport the medical teams and their medical needs during making the home visits to patients; add in the patients' medical equipment and supplies according to patient's need and their health status and all the medical forms used in the Program's activities.
He made clear that 40 training courses have been conducted during the last two years targeting all the working groups in the Home Medicine Program as part of the Training and Continuing Education Program. Also, the first phase of the electronic program related to the regions' statistics and activities has been applied and it has been linked centrally to the MOH's Training and Continuing Education General Department. This is after training data entry clerks of the health regions at workshops for that purpose. Additionally, the book of Home Medicine has been prepared, printed, and circulated as a documented reference; in order to structure the objectives and mechanisms of the Program in the Ministry of Health (MOH) and health affairs general directorates in the regions and governorates.
It is noteworthy to point out that the Home Health Care Program comes within the framework of the health service programs carried out by the Ministry of Health (MOH, as part of the National Project for an Integrated, Comprehensive Health Care, which aims at achieving the principles of justice, equality, and inclusiveness in terms of providing the health services and its easy access and affordability. In so doing, the MOH seeks to upgrade its services provided to patients and gain their satisfaction.