Current Structure and Future Challenges for the Healthcare system in Saudi Arabia

This paper provides an overview of the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia and outlines some of the future challenges in relation to economic and human resource requirements to meet the needs of the growing population and a changing disease profile. Over the past few decades, the Saudi healthcare system has undergone rapid expansion and modernisation. Currently, healthcare services are provided through three agencies; the Ministry of Health, other governmental agencies, and the private sector. The Ministry of Health is the largest provider of healthcare services, with a large number of healthcare facilities distributed all over the country. The Saudi health system attempts to provide high quality services, however it does face a range of complex mid- to long-term challenges which include: ensuring a sustainable financing system; workforce planning issues including provision of high quality training for adequate numbers of local healthcare professionals; to decrease excessive reliance on foreign workers; realignments of health services to respond to changing demographic and disease patterns; and continuation of adequate healthcare services annually to over two million pilgrims from across the world during the Hajj season.