KSA to set up S. Korean system in govt. hospitals | Arab News

 South Korea will help Saudi Arabia in setting up a “Hospital Information System” (HIS) and and a disease control systemin state-run hospitals, a Korean official Embassy said on Thursday.

“This is included in the framework of cooperation to strengthen the health care partnership
between the two countries, which was signed during the South Korean minister’s recent Riyadh visit,” he said.

Currently, six hospitals here are working with a consortium of South Korean hospitals and
companies to establish the HIS, an automated system that controls the overall management of hospital........

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KSA to set up S. Korean system in govt. hospitals | Arab News

Genetic disease named after Saudi doctor | Arab News

John Hopkins University has named a new genetic disease after a Saudi woman doctor for contributing to research around the illness. Wafa bint Mohammad Al-Eyaid, a consultant in endocrine diseases and genetics at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of the National Guard in Riyadh, followed 12 cases involving six Saudi families between 2002 and 2010.

She found that the children were born underweight despite seemingly normal periods of pregnancy, and had significant softness of the skin around their necks and elsewhere. All of them had heart defects, with some having undergone surgery.

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Genetic disease named after Saudi doctor | Arab News

Al-Falih to open conference focusing on patients’ rights | Arab News

 Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih will inaugurate the 1st Gulf Patient Rights Conference on Feb. 28 at King Faisal Conference Hall at the Riyadh InterContinental Hotel. The three-day conference will tackle a host of issues related to patient rights either from the theoretical or applied perspectives.

The issues include the current state of patient rights practices, role of health facilities and health team members, and regulatory authorities and educational, professional and
legal institutions in promoting patient rights....

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Al-Falih to open conference focusing on patients’ rights | Arab News

2,000 medical students to visit schools - Saudi Gazette

  A total of 2,000 medical students specializing in pediatrics will visit schools to offer free checkups and diagnoses to pupils of all ages. King Abdulaziz University Children’s Health Campaign Supervisor Dr. Abdulmueen Al-Agha said the campaign addresses children’s health and well being.
“A team of 2,000 medical students will be visiting several schools across 25 cities and governorates. The campaign started on Sunday and will continue until the end of the semester. This campaign is the biggest volunteering health campaign organized by medical students,” said Al-Agha. He said the campaign will be visiting primary and middle schools for both girls and boys......

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2,000 medical students to visit schools - Saudi Gazette

Are we all addicts? - Saudi Gazette

WHEN we think of addiction, we often think of substance abuse. This may include drugs, alcohol or even cigarettes. But what if I told you that we were all addicts but to a different substance something that we are constantly surrounded with in our daily lives, and which is eight times more addictive than cocaine? Sugar.

Take your own personal experience as an example. You have had your dinner and are quite satisfied, even full, but then you are introduced to the dessert table. What do you do? You will probably end up having a piece of cake. If you don’t, you will at least be tempted. Why is that? Are we unable to control our cravings?............

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Are we all addicts? - Saudi Gazette

Ministry of Health sets austerity plan - Saudi Gazette

  The Ministry of Health (MOH) will reduce the payment of bonuses and overtime, cut travel expenses and pharmaceutical purchases and bids for projects should not exceed the budget as part of its austerity measures.

 The ministry announced that all establishments working under it are to only employ doctors with expertise in rare fields. The ministry also announced that contracts must only require doctors to work for 90 days a year, said a source.....

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Ministry of Health sets austerity plan - Saudi Gazette

Ministry of Health to require employees to declare assets | Arab News

 The Ministry of Health is considering imposing an asset declaration as well as an absence of interest conflict testimony on its employees as a measure in fighting corruption. Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih made the announcement at a one-day forum on promoting integrity and combating corruption in the health care sector.

The forum was organized by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nazaha) in collaboration with the Council of Health Service which is chaired by the minister. “Integrity should be the foundation of the health sector; otherwise people’s health and lives will be jeopardized in the very place entrusted with protecting them,” he said, stressing his ministry’s determination to eliminate corruption and misbehavior.


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Ministry of Health to require employees to declare assets | Arab News

Why you can't just wipe out mosquitoes to get rid of the Zika virus - Saudi Gazette

On Saturday Colombia’s national health institute confirmed that more than 2,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the Zika virus, which has been linked to a devastating birth defect that affects a fetus’ brain.

The mosquito-borne disease, for which there is no vaccine or treatment, has been quickly spreading across the Americas since May, when the first confirmed Zika infection was reported in Brazil. More than 4 million people could be infected by the end of the year,
according to the World Health Organization.


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Why you can't just wipe out mosquitoes to get rid of the Zika virus - Saudi Gazette

Ghada Al-Mutairi — Saudi scientist who changed the concept of surgery - Saudi Gazette

 An ambitious Saudi woman has yet again proved sky is the limit for excellence. Ghada Mutlaq Al-Mutairi, 39, received a $3 million global innovation award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest organization supporting medical research in the United States, for her invention that changed the way surgical procedures are carried out in the country.

Al-Mutairi, who holds a doctorate in materials chemistry, currently lives in the US. She is a faculty member at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and director of the Center of Excellence in Nanomedicine.

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Ghada Al-Mutairi — Saudi scientist who changed the concept of surgery - Saudi Gazette

Hemophilia: Trained staff needed | Arab News

 Dr. Hazzaa Al-Zahrani, director of hematology and fellowship training programs at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, has warned against the increasing risk of hemophilia in the Gulf region.
He said about 75 percent of the people suffering from the bleeding disorder in developing countries do not receive enough or adequate treatment, or none at all, because health systems in these countries already have enough on their hands among health problems such
as dealing with malignant and infectious diseases.

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Hemophilia: Trained staff needed | Arab News

Sakaka hospital scores a first | Arab News

 A medical team at a hospital in Sakaka successfully conducted the first laparoscopic procedure of its kind in the region by using this modern technique.
The medical team, headed by Dr. Sami Al-Asari at the King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital, operated on a 60-year-old Saudi woman to remove a 40cm long stone in her small intestine through laparoscopic surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery is a procedure that uses a thin, lighted tube put through a cut or incision in the abdomen.  Director General of Health Affairs in Al-Jouf Hussein Al-Ruwaidi thanked Al-Asari and his team for their medical achievement.

Talking about the procedure, Al-Asari said that when the patient was brought to the hospital’s emergency department, she was suffering from extreme pain. “The patient also complained of frequent vomiting,” said Al-Asari, also the hospital’s department of surgery head and general and colorectal surgery department consultant.

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Sakaka hospital scores a first | Arab News

‘Designer’ babies possible: ‘Gene editing’ given green light | Arab News

British scientists have been given the go-ahead by the fertility regulator to genetically modify human embryos, BBC has reported. It is the first time a country has considered the DNA-altering technique in embryos and approved it, said the global channel.

The research will take place at the Francis Crick Institute in London and
aims to provide a deeper understanding of the earliest moments of human
life.

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‘Designer’ babies possible: ‘Gene editing’ given green light | Arab News

50 AIDS counseling clinics in Riyadh planned | Arab News

Fifty AIDS counseling clinics will be opened in health centers and hospitals in Riyadh soon.
These centers will have separate departments for both men and women, said Mohammad Al-Dhafeeri, director of the AIDS program. The measures will be taken to prevent a rise in AIDS cases.

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50 AIDS counseling clinics in Riyadh planned | Arab News

Kingdom alive to Zika virus threat | Arab News

Saudi Aabia has been taking preventive measures against the Zika virus, which is fast becoming a global concern. Zika is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania.  Its outbreaks have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific thus far.

 Faisal Al-Zahrani, Health Ministry spokesman, told Arab News that even Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih has emphasized preventive measures taken by all countries in the region against the virus.

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Kingdom alive to Zika virus threat | Arab News