RIYADH: Deputy Health Minister Obeid bin Sulaiman Al-Obeid dismissed speculations regarding the privatization of government hospitals in the Kingdom.

“The hospitals of the Ministry of Health won’t be privatized because we still view health care as a service, not a business,” he told a reception at the ministry yesterday. “What will happen is that the hospitals will be governed by an independent body in the form of a corporation with considerable administrative and financial independence.”

A proposal by the ministry to establish this body was submitted to the Council of Ministers for consideration, where it is currently under study.

“This new body would operate ministry hospitals according to the principles of business administration wherever feasible without overlooking humanitarian considerations,” he said. “Of course, the objective is to improve the performance of these hospitals in order to produce better health care services and to make them more accountable for the quality of services that they offer.”

Al-Obeid said though this new body would give considerable autonomy to hospitals in running their affairs, they would stay under the jurisdiction of the ministry as the minister of health himself would chair the new body.

Currently, there are 225 hospitals and 1,952 primary health centers run by the Ministry of Health. The number of hospitals is expected to rise to 322 once 97 hospitals currently under construction become operational in a few years.