Saudi Arabia Healthcare 101
Structure of the Healthcare
The Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ministry of Education, the National Guard, and the Ministry of Defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia together with the private sector champion the provision of healthcare services in the kingdom. Together, they offer a three-tier healthcare system, including Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Healthcare services.
Financing Healthcare
The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) is a regulatory body overseeing mandatory health insurance coverage requirements for locals and foreigners employed by private companies. The program has been implemented in three phases.
The first phase took a duration of two years from 2016 to 2017. This phase established that it was compulsory for private sector companies to offer health insurance for their Saudi employees and dependents.
The second phase, initiated in 2018, made the companies fund healthcare insurance for their expatriate employees and their dependents.
The third phase, rolled out late in 2019, declared that tourists visiting the kingdom should hold a health insurance policy provided by the government. This was one of the requirements for tourists to fulfill when submitting their tourist visa application.
As a result, Saudi Arabian citizens have access to all levels of public health care services available in the country facilitated by the Central Government (employees of public sector) or private companies (employees of private sector). Despite having their insurance facilitated by their employer, expatriates normally incur out of pocket payments for purchasing prescribed drugs from pharmacies.
Investment Opportunities
Lucrative opportunities to invest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s healthcare space include but are not limited to:
Long Term Rehabilitation and Surgical Centers
Maternity and Pediatrics
Specialized Services and Primary Healthcare
Laboratory and Diagnostic Centers
Start Ups & Technology
The kingdom has made significant reforms that have advocated for innovation in medical technology to ensure healthcare is accessible to many, even in remote areas. Health tech startups in Saudi Arabia include but are not limited to:
Sihatech
Nala
Saydl
Rozenamah
Health Links
Yaswas
These companies and many others in the country leverage technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D Printing , mHealth, c-Health and Big Data.
Nala, showing a promising head start, launched the first Arabic-language AI platform which allows users to get an accurate medical diagnosis within seconds. The platform, a brainchild of technology experts and doctors, is now available through a mobile app.
As an important component of Vision 2030, the MoH signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese tech giant Huawei, in order to create digital ecosystems and infrastructure. This will enable emerging technologies to revamp the healthcare space.
Challenges
Challenges that Saudi Arabia is experiencing in implementing Vision 2030 include:
An increase in non-communicable diseases due to lifestyle choices such as smoking, unhealthy diets
The growing demand of medical needs resulting from a growing population that houses locals and foreigners
The rising costs of public expenditure on health, which is a burden borne by the government
Solutions
Saudi Arabia has taken initiative to structure reforms that will help the kingdom combat challenges currently faced by the healthcare sector. Such initiatives include:
The New Models of Care Program, launched in 2017, aims at decentralizing the provision of public healthcare and encouraging private investment in healthcare. The program will also foster Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), in a bid to attend to gaps detected in the health care infrastructure. Phase one of the program (2018-2020) aims to structure the public healthcare system into different regional clusters; whereas PPPs will work to cover any gaps in service provided. The second phase (2021-2025) aims to create accountable care organizations (ACOs) that will oversee the provision of health care in each cluster, while the third phase (2026-2030) is expected to facilitate the rolling out of national health insurance to all residents, citizens, and visitors.
PPPs together with Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund are expected to finance a number of healthcare facilities, rehabilitation centers, laboratories, radiology, and medical cities in an effort to address the growing demand of medical care in the kingdom.
Once implemented, health insurance will relieve the government of the burden to fund healthcare for its citizens and residents.