The Supervisor of the Referral (Ehalati) Program of the Ministry of Health (MOH), Mr. Suleiman bin Ahmad Al-Sharie‘, explained that within the efforts exerted to improve work in Ehalati Program at the level of the ministry headquarters and health affairs directorates in regions and provinces, the MOH has referred 5,777 patients through the program during the period from 11 to 20 Rajab 1436H, including 111 life-saving cases.
Meanwhile, Al-Sharie revealed that out of the referred cases, 2,548 cases (amounting to 44.1%) were approved immediately, whereas 2,871 cases (about 49.7%) are still being considered, and 226 cases (at a rate of 3.9%) are not in need to be referred. That is to be added, he said, to 132 cases (2.3% of all referred cases) still on the waiting list.
All the more, Al-Sharie explained that life-saving cases amounted to 111 at a rate of 1.92 %, whereas the emergency cases amounted to 1,347 (at a rate of 23.32%), the hospitalized cases amounted to 1,385 (at a rate of 23.97%), and the cases referred to the outpatient clinics amounted to 2,934 cases (at a rate of 50.79%) of all referred cases through the system.
Within the same vein, Al-Sharie indicated the referral movement takes place according to the referral reason and that the program referred 63.73% of the total number of cases due to the unavailability of the medical service, 27.98% due to the unavailability of a specialized physician, and 5.69% due to the unavailability of a bed, whereas 2.6% of the total number of cases were referred for other reasons.
It's worth mentioning here that ‘Ehalati’ Program is reckoned one of the new e-programs carried out by the Ministry of Health. Advantages of the program are numerous, including providing medical counseling among physicians in the various medical facilities to study the health situation of the patient without the need for transferring him. It also provides all the logistic and coordination requirements to refer the patient from one medical facility to another. In addition, it provides an accurate archiving and statistic system, which contains information of the referred patients through the program in the Kingdom’s hospitals.