JEDDAH: The head of the national dialogue forum on Sunday called for the establishment of more charitable organizations in the Kingdom to provide health services.
"Charitable societies in a Western capitalist country provide one third of health services. Unfortunately, the number of such societies in our country is still very small not only in health care but also in other services," said Saleh Al-Hosain, who is also head of the Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques.
Al-Hosain made this statement during a reception given by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah at his palace in Riyadh to participants of the 8th national dialogue forum in Najran on "Society and Health Services."
King Abdullah expressed his delight at the progress in dialogue. "Thanks to God, our call for dialogue has reached every house and place in the Kingdom," the king stated.
In his speech, Al-Hosain said the Kingdom should have at least 6,000 charitable societies. "In a European country there is a voluntary organization for every 150 people. If we had established a charitable society for every 10,000 people we would have 3,000 societies and if we had one for every 5,000 people then we would have 6,000," he said.
He also urged intellectuals and academics to think about the reason for the Kingdom having such a small number of NGOs.
Al-Hosain said the participants in the Najran forum, including government officials, had agreed that Saudis deserved better health care services. Dr. Amal bint Jamil Fatany, dean of the Department of Medical Sciences and Studies at King Saud University, said the dialogue reflected the hopes and aspirations of society.
"This will create a fertile ground for partnership between health, education and social sectors for the benefit of everybody," she said, emphasizing the need to mobilize all of the Kingdom's resources to improve health care.
Speaking at the reception, Muhammad bin Saleh Al-Daheim commended the king for spreading a culture of dialogue in Saudi society.
Dr. Hadi bin Mahdi Al-Raka said the King Faisal Specialist Hospital has set an example by opening specialized clinics in eight of the Kingdom's provinces. Afaf bint Abdul Aziz Al-Qadi underscored the king's interfaith dialogue initiative and said it would help invest common human values and capabilities to promote peace and boost progress and prosperity all over the world.
Participants in the Najran dialogue forum, which was held last week, stressed the need for improved quality of service at public and private health facilities in the country.
Faisal bin Muammar, the secretary-general of the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center, which organized the event, opened the dialogue, which was attended by 70 delegates from across the Kingdom.
The speakers in the first session suggested the formation of committees to gauge the level of health service in each province and monitor the activities of health institutions. They also demanded steps to boost people's confidence in primary health centers.
By P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR
© Arab News 2010
