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(Last updated: 19 Jul 2007)
Trends and opportunities
The market
The current status of the health services in Saudi Arabia is positive regarding the medical care supplied to citizens. The situation has changed from moderate figures in capabilities, equipment and facilities to major improvements in health resources, healthcare budgets, preventive and curative health services, pharmaceutical services, and primary care and vaccine programs.
Saudi Arabia has modern equipment and facilities, which are staffed by internationally recognised consultants. The majority of surgeons are well trained and want to use the best equipment available. Most are expatriates and are familiar with Western practices and standards.
There are more than 60,000 nursing staff, 5000 pharmacists and 12,000 employees in para-medical categories.
The leading hospitals in Saudi Arabia’s three major cities have departments for open heart surgery operations, ear surgery, acute head and spinal trauma, paediatric neuro-surgery including brain tumours, hydrocephalus, congenital abnormalities, transphenoidal, pituitary surgery, stereotactic surgery, microsurgery, laser and endoscopic surgery.
Care for the handicapped is becoming more prominent in Saudi Arabia. On the initiative of the Saudi Arabian Benevolent Association for Disabled Children, two multi-million dollar centres for handicapped children have opened in the cities of Makkah and Jeddah.
Statistical figures indicate a percentage increase in specialisation of general medicine (19.1 per cent), dentistry (14.8 per cent), gynaecology (9.3 per cent), paediatrics (9.6 per cent), and internal medicine (5.7 per cent). The demand of herbal medicine is also increasing rapidly.
Opportunities
The Saudi Government has been keen on encouraging and expanding health services in the private sector. Presently, private health facilities deliver their services through coordination and integration with the healthcare system of Saudi Arabia.
Within government trends towards the development of the private sector, soft loans have been granted for the construction of private hospitals and multi-disciplined health facilities, in addition to the management and operation of these facilities.
The private sector has also been given the opportunity to provide maintenance facilities and services and support the medicine protection industry. Details on projects - from constructing new hospitals and care centres to equipping and managing them to local manufacturing of medicine both original label and generic - can be obtained from Austrade Riyadh.
Australia is currently represented in Saudi Arabia’s health and medical products sector through active and well-reputed companies. Some of the best opportunities for Australian companies, in meeting the main health objectives in Saudi Arabia include:
- Expanding preventive health programs through development of existing preventive units and creating new units including health offices, maternity and child care units and healthcare centres. This also includes expansion of vaccination and immunisation programs against epidemic and communicable diseases, environment health, health education/training, and early detection of diseases and protection against exotic diseases.
- Expanding primary healthcare coverage through the establishment of healthcare centres of various levels and categories to meet the different health needs of the communities they serve in desert areas, villages and cities.
- Conducting studies and research on health, environmental, epidemic, and nutritional problems.
- Increasing bed capacity of hospitals through construction of new hospitals or the expansion, development and maintenance of existing facilities to improve their efficiency.
- Increasing and improving specialised medical services in all central hospitals in cities, in addition to expanding and upgrading technical sections to current scientific and technological standards and levels.
- Improving and spreading emergency services.
- Upgrading and improving efficiency of engineering and maintenance services, support services and medical catering and supply at central level, in addition to the establishment of units to provide these services in every health department.
- Management and rationalisation of medicine and medical supply utilisation, and encouraging the establishment of pharmacies throughout Saudi Arabia so that patients can have easy access to medicine at all times.
- Increasing medical and healthcare workforce either through available national labour or from overseas.
- Preparation and implementation of Family Health Record Project, so that each member of the family can have a health card that includes data of all their health developments during their life, and to guarantee the highest level of preventive and curative services.
- Using the services of companies specialised in cleaning and catering to serve health units and centres, thus preventing the effort and time of technical staff and achieving the goal of maintaining a high level of healthcare services.
Competitive environment
The degree of competition in Saudi Arabia is very high. USA, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Belgium are the major competing countries along with low cost Egyptian, Jordanian, and the local products.
There are approximately 200 pharmaceutical companies in Saudi Arabia registered with the Ministry of Health – the market is largely dominated by European suppliers, and over 40 agents in Saudi Arabia, which import medicines from international pharmaceutical companies.
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