In this Law, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings assigned thereto, unless the context requires otherwise:

• 1. Public Health: A comprehensive concept that is concerned with the general health of the individual, family, and community, including the environmental, social, economic, and hereditary effects thereon.

• 2. Healthcare: Preventive, curative, and rehabilitative services provided to the individual and the community at the primary, secondary, and specialist levels.

• 3. Primary Healthcare: It includes the following:

  • a) Raising awareness among individuals, families, and the community regarding health-related problems and risks and regarding preventive measures, as well as promoting healthy lifestyles.

  • b) Working with relevant agencies in monitoring environmental sanitation and the safety of food and drinking water as well as promoting and raising awareness on healthy nutritional practices.

  • c) Providing comprehensive maternal and child healthcare.

  • d) Immunizing against communicable diseases.

  • e) Combating endemic, parasitic, and communicable diseases and containing their spread.

  • f) Diagnosing and providing proper treatment of prevalent diseases and injuries, as well as providing natural childbirths.

  • g) Providing essential medicines.

• 4. Secondary Healthcare: Healthcare provided by general hospitals and specialist physicians.

• 5. Tertiary, Specialized, or Referral Healthcare: Healthcare provided by specialized hospitals and that requires advanced equipment and highly specialized and experienced physicians.

• 6. Healthcare Provision: Ensuring the availability of healthcare, without necessarily being directly provided or funded by the State, except as stipulated in this Law.

• 7. Minister: Minister of Health.

• 8. Ministry: Ministry of Health.

• 9. Council: Saudi Health Council

The State shall endeavor to provide healthcare and attend to public health to ensure living in a healthy and safe environment. It shall, in particular:

• 1. ensure the safety and potability of drinking water;

• 2. ensure the safety of sewage and treatment thereof;

• 3. ensure the safety of circulated food products;

• 4. ensure the safety of circulated medicines, drugs, and medical supplies, and monitor the use thereof;

• 5. protect the community from the effects of narcotics and intoxicants;

• 6. protect the country from epidemics;

• 7. protect the environment from the threats of various types of pollution;

• 8. set health requirements for the use of public areas.

• 9. Promoting health awareness among the public.

The state provides the healthcare services outlined below to citizens in the manner it regulates:

• 1- Maternal and child care.

• 1 (Repeated) - Women's health programs.

• 2- Immunization programs.

• 3- Healthcare for the disabled and the elderly.

• 4- Healthcare for male and female students.

• 5- Healthcare for accidents, emergencies, and disasters.

• 6- Control of infectious and epidemic diseases.

• 7- Treatment of chronic diseases, such as tumor removal, organ transplantation, and dialysis.

• 8- Mental health.

• 9- Other elements of primary healthcare services.

The Ministry is the authority responsible for providing healthcare, and it has - in particular - the following responsibilities:

• 1 - Ensuring the provision of primary healthcare services.

• 2 - Providing healthcare services in hospitals and secondary and specialized treatment centers.

• 3 - Preparing health and vital statistics, conducting scientific studies and research, analyzing them, and benefiting from them.

• 4 - Developing the health strategy and necessary plans to provide, develop, and distribute healthcare in a manner that ensures accessibility for all members of the community.

• 5 - Establishing programs for the training and development of the workforce in the health sector in collaboration with relevant entities.

• 6 - Setting instructions and conditions for preventing the entry and spread of infectious, epidemic, and quarantine diseases, reporting them, and working to combat or eliminate them, while applying preventive and therapeutic measures.

• 7 - Regulating the circulation of medicines and pharmaceuticals and monitoring them to ensure their availability, suitability, proper use, and reasonable pricing.

• 8 - Establishing the necessary controls and conditions for licensing private health institutions and their employees, and monitoring their activities and quality of performance.

• 9 - Establishing rules and standards for the quality of healthcare and ensuring their application.

• 10 - Ensuring the correct practice of health professions and the extent of employees' adherence to the rules and ethics of the profession.

• 11 - Working to establish rules governing the conduct of medical and pharmaceutical research and trials.

• 12 - Developing plans and programs for comprehensive health awareness at the community level.

• 12 (Repeated) - Establishing the national policy for women's health, and the necessary plans for its implementation and development, in collaboration with relevant entities.

• 13 - Cooperating and coordinating with countries and regional and international organizations in the fields of public health and healthcare.

The State shall, through the Ministry, endeavor to provide an integrated network of primary, secondary, and specialized healthcare services to all provinces of the Kingdom. The Ministry shall, in cooperation with provincial councils, determine the demands, locations, and levels of healthcare according to the provinces’ geographic and demographic conditions as well as prevalent diseases therein.

Each general directorate of health affairs shall have the administrative and financial powers necessary for carrying out its duties. The Ministry shall, within its budget, take into consideration the needs of each province according to available health facilities and population. Each hospital shall be allocated the funds it requires.

The General Directorate of Health Affairs shall implement the health plans and programs set by the Ministry for each province, and shall, in particular, be responsible for the following:

• 1. Ensuring the availability of healthcare programs to cover the needs of the province.

• 2. Managing and operating the Ministry's health facilities.

• 3. Licensing private health facilities and their employees in accordance with the Ministry’s requirements and conditions; and monitoring the quality of such facilities.

• 4. Preparing health statistics and biostatistics as well as conducting studies and research at the provincial level.

• 5. Setting medical education programs continuously and training health professionals in provincial health facilities, in coordination with the Ministry and other health sectors.

• 6. Coordinating and cooperating with government and private health institutions and with other health directorates.

• 7. Implementing plans and programs to raise comprehensive health awareness at the provincial level.

1. Health centers of the Ministry and other government agencies and those of the private sector shall provide preventive, emergency, treatment, and rehabilitative services, and shall, if the need arises, refer cases to hospitals and specialized treatment centers.

2. The Implementing Regulations shall specify the specialties of said centers and set the regulatory rules for their work, their relations with hospitals, referral procedures, and issuance of medical reports.