| SAUDI HEALTHCARE SECTOR SHINES DESPITE PANDEMIC |
The coronavirus crisis has shone a light on the kingdom’s healthcare sector.
Over the past few years, Saudi Arabia has been allocating billions of dollars to the healthcare budget. Last year, the government set aside SAR 172 billion in healthcare and social development, in addition to SAR 159 billion in 2018 and another SAR 134 billion in 2017.
Combined with the SAR 167 billion allocated to the sector in this year’s budget, Saudi authorities would have injected around SAR 632 billion on the healthcare and social services sector over the past four years.
These investments are paying off as Saudi braces for one of the biggest health crisis faced by the world in living memory.
And the sector is getting more support from the government. Finance minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said that additional support for the health sector reached SAR 47 billion. The funds are being used to raise the health sector's readiness, secure medicines, operate additional beds, and provide necessary medical supplies, such as artificial respirators and devices and laboratory tests, as well as to secure the necessary medical and technical cadres from inside and abroad.
The government has also ordered healthcare providers to give urgent treatment to those who show symptoms of the virus, without waiting for approval from their insurance companies.
Meanwhile, Saudi companies and citizens have also been contributing to the Ministry of Health’s coronavirus fund to fight the disease.
“The energy sector under the leadership of the Ministry of Energy has contributed with over SAR 500 million, Saudi banks have contributed with almost SAR 160 million and many companies have contributed greatly for this cause,” according to the minister of health, Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah.
LOCALISATION
Investments in the Saudi healthcare sector would also help raise capacity to ensure steady supply of key medical equipment, such as masks and ventilators.
According to Invest Saudi, 90% of medical devices in the kingdom are imported. But with the global pandemic, many countries across the world have imposed export restrictions on key medical equipment, which has the potential to affect supply.
But the domestic industry has spurred into action. In March, the Saudi Ministry of Health signed a memorandum of understanding with Sanofi Saudi Arabia, to start localising and transferring insulin industry technology locally in the country with the possibility of external export to the GCC countries and the Middle East region.
The memorandum included the exchange of knowledge and its localisation, the rapid availability of innovative drugs in the treatment of diabetes in the kingdom, and providing innovative healthcare solutions to treat and reduce diabetes damage in the country.
CORONAVIRUS CLINICAL TRIAL
The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) also recently approved conducting international refereed clinical trial for coronavirus medication in five hospitals in the country.
“The clinical trial aims to obtain reliable data related to the effectiveness and safety of a number of used antivirals that may contribute to the medication of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). These antivirals are: Remdesivir, Chloroquine, Lopinavir with Ritonavir and Interferon,” according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Saudi factories have also started producing 3.7 million masks every week to protect citizens from the virus, according to the Saudi Food & Drug Authority. In addition, around 49 manufacturing facilities have been producing 1.5 million litres of sanitisers.
The SFDA is also playing a leadership role globally by chairing a meeting of The Global Harmonization Working Party that aims to establish the requirements for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as medical masks, gloves and sterilisers.
"With continued co-operation chaired by SFDA with regulatory agencies, it was agreed to issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for Coronavirus (PCR + rapid Test) because these devices require time to research and to discover the technical and clinical information for approving the laboratory reagents. The authority proposed this Emergency Use Authorization, which is now being applied at a global level,” said Eng. Ali Al dalaan, vice executive president for Medical Devices Sector at SFDA and chairman of the GHWP.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Council of Engineers have invited industrial companies to manufacture ventilators to help patients infected by COVID-19.
A mix of Saudi ingenuity, hard work and funding would ensure that the country can fight the health menace, and build the capacity to make medical supplies in the long run.
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