Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Initially the region which became Saudi Arabia was formed into the Kingdoms of Nejd and Hejaz, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia proclaimed on January 8, 1926. Twelve years later the discovery of oil resulted in the country becoming extremely wealthy. Saudi Arabia has a population of 27,020,000 (2006), including 5,576,000 foreigners (2006), and has 166 doctors and 330 nurses per 100,000 people. Currently about 11 percent of the public expenditure in the country is spent on health care.

Little is known about medical care during medieval times, although it is known that the Iraqi-born surgeon, Avicenna (980–1037), did work in Arabia, writing his Canon of Medicine. Healthcare remained extremely limited with the Health Department being established in 1926 by King Abdulaziz al-Saud. In 1946 there were only 300 hospital beds in the entire country, which had a population of 5 million. However, in 1950, the government massively enlarged the healthcare services in the country, building hospitals at Riyadh, the capital, and also Mecca, Jeddah and three other cities.

By this time there were 111 doctors and 1,000 hospital beds in the country. To run this enlarged medical service, in 1951 the National Ministry of Health was established, and in 1966 the Saudi Red Crescent Society was founded.

The oil wealth only started to make the country wealthy from the 1960s, and in 1970, the Saudi government established its first Five Year Plan. This led to an increase in the numbers of primary health centers in the country, more public sector hospitals, and encouragement for private sector hospitals. This gradually led to Saudi Arabia having one of the best healthcare systems in the world, with free medical care for all its citizens, and also any foreign Muslims who visit Saudi Arabia for the hajj. In 1975 the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Medical center in Riyadh was opened.

Until the 1970s, Saudi doctors were trained overseas, especially in Egypt, the United States and Britain, and there was clearly need for locally-trained doctors, and in 1976 the first class of physicians graduated from King Saud University which had been founded as Riyadh University, changing its name in 1982. At the same time a Residency program was established at King Abdulaziz University Hospital in Jeddah. Three years later the first renal transplant in Saudi Arabia took place, and in 1992, the home healthcare agency at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh was established. The Saudi Medical Bibliography has been published from 1983, covering publications from 1887 until the present day.

The College of Medicine at King Saud University in Riyadh, remains the center for much of the medical research carried out in the country, and there are now many specialist hospitals in Riyadh, Mecca, Jeddah and other cities. The King Fahd Medical City outside Riyadh was built in the 1990s at the cost of $534 million, and there are also medical facilities around the country run by various government agencies including the National Guard, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Defense and Aviation. Mention should also be made of the Jeddah Health Institute and other similar institutes in Riyadh and Hofouf which provide basic medical training for healthcare professionals.

...