Healthcare in Saudi Arabia mainly comprises a national healthcare system with the Ministry of Health (MOH) providing healthcare services via a number of government agencies. There are more than 240 hospitals and 2,000 primary healthcare centers representing 60% of the health services in Saudi Arabia. The MOH provides ambulatory and inpatient care, and services include emergency care, elective care, open-heart surgery, cancer treatment, dialysis and organ transplants. At the same time, there is increased participation from the private sector as well.
Citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia can receive healthcare services from:
Let's look at these facilities in detail:
Ministry of Health Facilities
This is where the general public can turn to for treatment. These hospitals are situated in cities and towns all through Saudi Arabia, with the King Saud Medical City in Riyadh being the largest with 1,500 beds and the King Fahd Medical City the second largest with 1,200 beds.
Military Hospitals
As mentioned earlier, there are two branches of the military hospital in Saudi Arabia for the country's armed forces and their family members - SANG (Saudi Arabian National Guard) and MODA (Ministry of Defense and Aviation).
Ministry of the Interior
This service provides care to the police and customs officers and their families along with other members of the Ministry of the Interior. These hospitals include:
Referral Hospitals
These referral hospitals are for treatment of specialized conditions that require specialized care which is not available in the other healthcare centers. These are:
Private Facilities Functioning for Profit
Here is a list of some of the private hospitals functioning in Saudi Arabia:
Private Facilities for Specific Industries
Healthcare in Saudi Arabia is one of the main focuses of the government in its plans to further expand and diversify the country's economy. The healthcare sector represents a large and growing market in Saudi Arabia with an increasing annual budget allocation, which has more than doubled in the last few years.