الموافقة على تنظيم «مركز الإحالات الطبية».. عكاظ تنشر التفاصيل

The newspaper "Okaz" learned about the approval of the organization of the Medical Referrals Center, aimed at regulating referral processes within and outside the Kingdom, ensuring the integration of health services, and facilitating patients' access to care at the right time and place.

According to the organization (which "Okaz" reviewed), the center is organizationally linked to the minister and is considered one of the organizational units of the Ministry of Health, with its main headquarters located in Riyadh.

The center aims to manage the flow of medical referrals between healthcare facilities in the Kingdom, monitor the capacity of those facilities, and provide technical support when needed, achieving integration with relevant authorities regarding treatment eligibility and coordination among them, to facilitate patients' access to healthcare at the appropriate time and place, within a complementary relationship.

The center's powers include, without prejudice to the competencies of other authorities, taking all necessary actions to achieve its goals, which include proposing policies, plans, initiatives, and programs related to its jurisdiction and submitting them, completing the necessary regulatory procedures regarding them, preparing standards, procedures, and models in its areas of competence, organizing medical referral procedures and pathways within and outside the Kingdom, monitoring their implementation, and taking necessary actions regarding them in accordance with regulatory provisions, in coordination with relevant authorities. Among the center's objectives is to prepare and follow up on studies of air medical evacuation requests within and outside the Kingdom, take necessary actions regarding them, organize procedures for studying sick leave requests for civil service employees within the Kingdom that exceed 30 days, and outside the Kingdom, and take necessary actions regarding them, organize procedures for medical exemption requests for civil service employees, and take necessary actions regarding them, organize procedures for studying health exemption requests submitted by the relevant authority for the case of the imprisoned patient, recommend necessary actions, implement the decisions of the Supreme Medical Authority after their approval, follow up on the implementation of orders issued regarding the treatment of cases within and outside the Kingdom, supervise cases eligible for treatment, monitor the center's activities, and data of healthcare facilities related to families, to determine their number, efficiency, occupancy rate, average length of stay, and bed turnover, support studies and research in its area of competence, prepare them in partnership with relevant authorities, make recommendations, work to provide a suitable investment environment in its field in coordination with relevant authorities, and provide services, works, and initiatives related to its areas of competence.

The organization specified the formation of a supervisory committee for the center, chaired by the minister, with representatives from various authorities, responsible for overseeing the affairs of the center and making all necessary decisions to achieve its goals. Its competencies include: approving internal policies, plans, programs, and initiatives, approving standards, procedures, and models, reviewing periodic reports on the progress of work, forming permanent or temporary committees and defining their competencies and working mechanisms.