The Shoura Council and the Ministry of Health (MOH) are to form a joint committee to develop future cooperation. The decision was taken at a meeting between Shoura Council members and senior officials of the Health Ministry held at the ministry headquarters in Riyadh on Saturday. Speaker Abdullah Al-Asheikh led the Shoura team, while Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah headed the MOH panel. On a proposal made by Al-Asheikh, Al-Rabeeah agreed to form a joint committee comprising officials from both organizations to coordinate activities related to the two bodies. Health Ministry Spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani said the committee would meet quarterly to review progress and draw up future programs. Detailed functions of the proposed committee and its chairman will be worked out in the coming days, he added. The Shoura speaker and delegates were received by the health minister at the ministry headquarters. In his welcome note, Al-Rabeeah said his ministry is dedicated to offering the best health care services according to the vision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. The minister told the Shoura delegation that the aims and objectives of his ministry is patient centered. “Thus, we have ensured that patients and their families in the Kingdom should know their rights and privileges when they receive medical treatment in the country,” the minister explained. He said that the meeting between the ministry officials and consultative body would ensure an exchange of experience for the betterment of the nation. Al-Rabeeah said the ministry had embarked on a 10-year plan to carry out a strategic program for a national project for integrated and comprehensive health care services in the Kingdom. Al-Asheikh said the Shoura Council would extend its support to the program that would benefit people living across the country. The Shoura chairman recalled that he had the opportunity to participate in several projects of the Health Ministry initiated on the instructions of King Abdullah when he was crown prince. Elaborating the preventive measures undertaken by the ministry, Deputy Health Minister for Preventive Medicine Dr. Ziad Al-Memish said the Kingdom had reached a remarkable record of vaccinating 98 percent of its target group. During 2010 the Health Ministry reported zero cases of diphtheria, pertussis and polio because of its successful vaccination campaign. Rates of diphtheria and whooping cough decreased to zero per 100,000 people, while the incidence of tetanus neonatorum dropped to 0.01 and meningitis to 0.01. Measles fell to 1.29, rubella to 0.13, and hepatitis (B) to 18.72 per 100,000 people compared to 20.43 in 2008. He also said the MOH was able to prevent infectious diseases being imported into the Kingdom due to its strict quarantine programs carried out at all ports of entry to the Kingdom. Adviser to Health Minister Mohammed Al-Yemeni highlighted the achievement of the ministry in the field of e-health. “We are currently carrying out a state-of-the art electronic program to implement a scientific plan in the field of information technology and introduce a new program to provide improved services to the infants warded in the hospitals.” Dr. Khalid Al-Hussein, director general of health authorities and overseas health services at the ministry, said only 800 cases were referred abroad for medical treatment, while 43,000 cases were treated within the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia spends more than SR1 billion annually on providing specialized medical treatment for its citizens at foreign hospitals, he added.