JEDDAH, 18 May 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has allocated SR7 billion to establish 2,000 primary health care centers across the Kingdom with advanced facilities, according to Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie.

“A few weeks ago we have signed contracts to establish and furnish 420 health centers and we have called tenders to build 444 centers. Before that we have awarded contracts to establish 150 centers,” he explained.

Addressing the Shoura Council recently, he said Crown Prince Sultan had donated a piece of land for building the national medical laboratory at a cost of SR119 million. “The project remained dormant for the past 14 years as the ministry did not receive a plot to establish it,” he said.

In his open remarks, Al-Manie said budget allocations received by his ministry could meet for only 10 percent of its requirements. “We had requested SR900 million to upgrade our information systems but we received only SR90 million for the purpose,” he pointed out.

He downplayed the number of medical mistakes in the country. In 2004, according to him, the figure reached only 896 after nearly 100 million visited the Kingdom’s medical facilities.

He said the ministry had increased the number of legal medical committees from eight to 14 to look into such mistakes and take appropriate deterrent actions.

He said allocations have been made to establish a new 500-bed hospital in the east of Riyadh and a 300-bed hospital in the north. In addition, there are plans to expand the Prince Salman Hospital and Iman Hospital in the city.

Speaking about the condition of health centers, he said some of them were lacking doctors specialized in family medicine. There are now nearly 5,000 general practitioners at these centers.

“We have signed contracts with 2,000 Egyptian doctors to work at these centers,” Al-Jazirah Arabic daily quoted him as saying. He also disclosed plans to recruit Cuban doctors after Asian doctors refused to work in the Kingdom due to low salaries.

He said the Health Ministry would require a budget allocation of SR12 billion by 2020 as a result of growing population and health requirements. He said Riyadh city alone required 30 health centers because of its density of population.

The minister ruled out suggestions that there was shortage of medicine. “There is no shortage in basic medicine and we have requested an additional allocation of SR600 million to purchase medicine,” he explained.