GCC ministers' meet moots joint work in health services  

Muscat: The opening program for the ninth meeting of the GCC Health Ministers Committee looked at the GCC countries towards strengthening cooperation in the field of health in order to develop the provision of health services in a way that reflects excellence to keep pace with the rapid progress in the field of technology (Internet of Things, artificial intelligence), and joint work to develop the system of this vital sector in the Gulf region.

The event addressed a number of health issues and topics of mutual concerns including visa medical examination, following the implementation of International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), Health Cities, registration and classification of health specialties, in addition to the strategic dialogues among the Council’s countries and the sisterly and friendly countries in the health, and the establishment of a Virtual Gulf Health Center.

During the meeting, the Saudi Ministry of Health's proposal on recognizing March 2nd of every year as World Health Martyr Day was reviewed.

In addition, the meeting discussed the Sultanate of Oman's proposal on the specialized services integration among GCC countries that aims at benefiting from Health Centers of Excellence and strengthening complementarity in specialized services among the GCC countries.

This would allow the rest of the GCC countries to access the services of any Gulf specialized center at a lower cost compared to when seeking treatment abroad in non-Gulf countries while ensuring the quality of service.

The specialized centers include corneal transplantation/retina treatment centers, cochlear implantation centers, organ transfer and transplantation centers, joint replacement centers, cancer centers, diagnostic and therapeutic intervention centers (Intervention Medicine), spine centers, brain and nerve centers, cardiology centers, fertility centers, physical therapy and rehabilitation centers, public health laboratories/centers, national training centers for medical and allied medical categories (OMSB / Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, etc.), and toxicology centers.

The aspects of complementarity are represented in sending patients who meet the conditions for treatment abroad to centers of excellence in the GCC countries, exchanging expertise in the field of studies and research, and conducting multi-center studies in the GCC countries, in addition to exchanging experiences in medical and allied medical groups training.

Dr. Hilal bin Ali Al Sabti, Minister of Health said, “Today’s meeting agenda includes many important topics that will achieve the positive impact of the decisions of the Supreme Council during its thirty-sixth session, December 2015, which was held in Riyadh - in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - regarding enhancing the process of integrating joint Gulf action.”

He added that among the most significant of these topics is the importance of joining hands to unify positions in the interest of improving the health sector in the Gulf countries, and the importance of enhancing complementarity in specialized services among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries by benefiting from centers of excellence at the Gulf level.

To ensure the exchange of services and enhance joint cooperation in treating disease cases and providing health services. The importance of activating virtual clinics between different hospitals with rare specialties among the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council has been addressed.

The opening program also included a speech by The Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, Jassim bin Muhammad Al-Budaiwi, in which he said, “It gives me great pleasure, at the outset, to present to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq the Great, Sultan of Oman, President of the current session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council. “May God protect him,” the highest expressions of thanks and great gratitude, and to his brothers, Their Majesties and Highnesses, the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, “may God protect and protect them,” for the generous support and care that the joint Gulf action process is receiving to advance this blessed process in all areas and fields of health.

They stressed the necessity of continuous work to achieve aspirations, and perhaps the Riyadh summit in December 2022 confirmed these aspirations, and it was stated in the contents of the Riyadh Declaration and the final statement of this summit includes the directives and aspirations of the leaders.

According to him, data and statistics confirm the commitment of the GCC countries to health development issues, as this represents the ability of the GCC countries to achieve some of the goals of the third goal of the health development goals, which is concerned with ensuring that everyone enjoys healthy lifestyles, especially since the GCC countries were able to limit the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, malaria, and other infectious (communicable) diseases that threaten the lives of the population, through national programs for expanded immunization, and other steps that limit the outbreak and spread of these diseases.

He stressed that the Council countries’ endeavor to achieve comprehensive health coverage by providing health and human resources to the health systems in the Cooperation Council was reflected in providing the population’s access to health services at its various levels.

Data and statistics confirm the GCC's commitment to the health development issues, which is notably marked in their ability to achieve some of the objectives of the third goal of Sustainable Development Goals on ensuring healthy lives and well-being for everyone, Al Budaiwi pointed out. He stated that the GCC countries have mitigated the incidence of communicable diseases such as poliomyelitis, Malaria, and other life-threatening communicable diseases through carrying out a National Expanded Program on Immunization for instance.

He affirmed that the GCC's effort to achieve universal health coverage by providing health and human resources for the health systems has ensured people’s access to various levels of health services.

High on the agenda, the GCC Secretary General stated, is the affirmation issued at the 34th session of the GCC Supreme Council on achieving and deepening cooperation and integration among GCC countries, promoting the Council’s gains, and developing joint GCC action in health, in addition to strengthening relations of cooperation and partnership in the field of health among GCC and countries, regional and international organizations.

The ninth meeting of the Committee of Gulf Health Ministers session approved the agenda of the meeting and endorsed a number of draft resolutions submitted by the Health Undersecretaries Committee.

Furthermore, the meeting addressed the Sultanate of Oman's proposal to activate telemedicine clinics for rare specialties among Gulf countries. The proposal aspires to create a joint electronic platform for all GCC countries on clinical consultancy so that rare specialties’ physicians can discuss and follow up on rare medical cases of various congenital anomalies in newborns and children, and types of cancers that are rare or unresponsive to treatment, and others.

Following the 9th Meeting of the GCC Health Ministers Committee, the 86th general conference of Ministers of Health Council of GCC countries and Yemen in its forty-eighth session was convened.

At the beginning of the meeting, H.E. Dr. Hilal Ali Al Sabti, Minister of Health expressed his sincere gratitude for taking part in the 86th meeting which is part of the GCC efforts to strengthen joint cooperation towards boosting the health sector system in the Gulf region.

In his address, the Health Minister conveyed his appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for organizing the previous session of the meeting which had contributed to developing the health sector in GCC countries and Yemen.

Suleiman Saleh Al Dakheel, Director General of Gulf Health Council stated that today’s gathering comes in a time when magnificent developments in the health sector are evolving which entails joint work and persistent cooperation to address challenges and achieve success, stressing that the joint Gulf action in the health sector has always been of great benefit for the region. The Gulf Health Council Director General elaborated that the meeting is supporting the continuation of the cooperation, aiming at achieving the desired goals and boosting health services to meet the expectations and aspirations of the Gulf people.

The Conference reviewed a spectrum of draft resolutions submitted by the Executive Board of the Gulf Health Council for endorsement including for instance draft resolution on Gulf Center for Disease Prevention and Control where the plan of the Gulf CDC 2024 was approved along with approval to share related health data that is being shared with the World Health Organization with the GCDC for the purpose of risk assessment and studying the burden of morbidity and mortality. The collaborative action mechanism (tawasul) with the GCC Health Ministries was also approved.

Regarding medical examination of expatriates coming to GCC, updates of the Rules and regulations of the medical test program were approved. Moreover, the meeting endorsed the new codification of items system of the Gulf Joint Procurement program instead of the old codification. It was also decided, with regard to the registration of medical devices and supplies and manufacturing companies, to approve the Gulf regulations for the registration of medical devices and supplies.

Moreover, it was decided to approve the restructuring of the pay and benefits and develop the organizational structure and governance with an expert house.

With regard to central registration, it was decided to adopt the update of the change requests guidelines, approve the updated request form for canceling a centrally registered product, and to approve dealing with regulatory requests for pharmaceutical factories in a similar manner to the regulatory procedures for pharmaceutical preparations.

Moreover, the Conference endorsed a resolution on updating the inspection mechanism for the pharmaceutical and veterinary factories and products,as well factories of medical supplies and devices. On Medication pricing, it was decided to approve the updated price certificate form for the reference countries in the Health Council to be (18) countries.