Rare honour for MoH

The Kingdom’s public health sector has received one of the world’s prestigious honours. This came as the Ministry of Health was granted a Diamond Level Accreditation Certificate by the Accreditation Canada International Commission. The ministry received a detailed letter from the commission, commending the best health standards maintained by the health authorities in the Kingdom. The commission stated that the Kingdom’s primary health care sector deserves a special praise.

The Diamond Level Accreditation is the highest of its kind. The accreditation is in line with the Qmentum Accreditation Programme. According to the commission, the programme is designed to focus on quality and safety throughout all aspects of an organisation’s services - from governance and leadership to direct care and infrastructure - to benefit patients, clients, residents, staff and volunteers. A detailed study was conducted by the Canadian body before granting the accreditation.

The report mentioned that Bahrain has met international standards on 99.1 per cent of the factors.  The commission had assessed the ministry on the quality of care, service delivery and using best practices.  “The achievement represents international recognition for the Kingdom’s public health care. This confirmed that we are in line with the national strategic goals,” the Ministry of Health stated.  

The Ministry of Health as well the Supreme Council for Health has taken a number of measures in recent years to improve health services in the Kingdom. Recently, it was announced that it will be mandatory for all hospitals in Bahrain to co-operate with the national ambulance system and receive all emergency cases.  The hospitals are also required to provide information about the number of emergency beds they have and the designated staff members assigned with emergency responsibilities. “The hospitals may not refuse any emergency cases. The patients must be provided with treatment as soon as possible.

“Information regarding the number of emergency beds must be provided and it’s availability must be updated electronically,” an SCH official said. The National Ambulance Service was launched on June 15, this year. The service was activated at 13 centres and will cover all governorates by the end of this year. The initiative aims to improve the quality of ambulance service provided for citizens and residents. 

The project, which is managed by the Interior Ministry, operates within the highest level of discipline in performance and competency to ensure fast response to medical emergencies by benefiting from the best international experiences in this field. The project includes linking the operation rooms with the latest communication and control systems and Geographical Security System to ensure swift response. The public can contact the main operations room to make requests to the national ambulance service.