Comparative study of Saudi healthcare system and Australian health care system

The government of Saudi Arabia has focused on the development of health care services on all levels including: primary, secondary and tertiary. The Healthcare sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is primarily managed by the Government through the Ministry of Health (MOH) and number of semi public organisation who specifically operate hospitals and medical services for their employees. In addition, private sector operators are also playing a key role in providing quality healthcare services in the Kingdom.

 Health care expenses in the public hospital are free for local Saudi citizens; a nominal fee is required for international visitors or workers. There is a noticeable increase on MOH budget during the recent years. For example, between 2005 and 2008 Saudi Arabia allocated approximately SAR 23.5 billion per annum with a cumulative amount of SAR 94 billion investment in the health care sector. However, in 2010 and 2011 there was a substantial increase in the healthcare budget which increased from SAR 30 billion (6.3% of total Government Budget) in 2008 to SAR 52 billion in 2009 (11% of total Government Budget) and to SAR 61.2 billion in 2010 (11.3% of total Government Budget). The budget allocation was further increased to SAR 68.7 billion (11.8% of total Government Budget) in 2011. In early 2013, the Saudi government provided the Ministry of Health with a budget increase of 14.493.428.000 US Dollars. This money was issued to develop health care services. However, a number of issues arose in the health care system. One of the significant issues is that the Saudi people struggle to obtain direct access to the government hospitals or clinics, especially those who are in need of urgent care.

Patients are forced to wait long periods of time to acquire admissions unless they know individuals within the health care system or have networks. The minimum wait time for one patient bed is usually six months, because public sector has shortage in the number of beds (2.2 beds for every 1000 people).         A personal example is in relation to my wife who had a neurological problem. My (that is redundant; a neurological problem is a head problem). We were told to go to one of the Saudi public hospitals. Once we had arrived, we were then advised that the next available appointment was in six months.  My wife and I then went to a private hospital where she was treated. However, the treatment caused her to have chronic pain. My wife’s case is one of many examples that occur within the Saudi Arabian health care system. 

The public sectors try to encourage the overflow of patients to use their personal connections which would allow them to get treated faster and ease the amount of work for them. The private sector is rather costly for patients. Doctors also prefer to work in the private sector – providing them with more money and less work.

These issues are severely damaging to the Saudi Arabian society. It has been argued that these issues can be rectified as the MOH has implemented many regulations since 1951. These regulations need to be reformed and modernized to adapt to the significant population growth (estimated to be 1.51% in 2013).

One of the methodologies which this research going to apply toward the reform of this problem is that compare and contrast Saudi system with the Australian system as a successful model, sines  both countries relatively have the same number of population ,  population growth rate,  and  government budget. However, both of them are using different approach of running the country. Australia has a unique health care system around the globe.

The Healthcare sector in the Australia is primarily managed by The Minister for Health and Ageing.  Privet and government institutions provide the Health care services in Australia. Medicare is the current and universal system was instituted in 1984. It coexists with a private health system. Medicare is funded partly by a 1.5% income tax Medicare levy (with exceptions for low-income earners), but mostly out of general revenue. An additional levy of 1% is imposed on high-income earners without private health insurance. As well as Medicare, there is a separate Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme that considerably subsidizes a range of prescription medications.   “Australia’s healthcare investment as a percentage of GDP sits at approximately 8.9% per capita. With life expectancy of 81.8 years, Australia is on a par with other high performing countries in this ranking, showing that our investment in a universal healthcare system is a winning model,” said Alison Verhoeven, Chief Executive, Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA).

 Australian approach in the healthcare system was ranked 7th most efficient healthcare system worldwide by US media corporation, Bloomberg. Bloomberg ranked each country according to three criteria: life expectancy (weighted 60%), relative per capita cost of health care (30%); and absolute per capita cost of health care (10%). According to the 2013 Global burden of disease study Australia was ranked third highest in life expectancy. There are relatively increase in hospital bed capacity, in 2005/2006 Australia had (on average) 1 doctor per 322 people and 1 hospital bed per 244 people. The number of hospital beds increased by 3.9% between 2007–08 (82,582 beds) and 2010–11 (85,820 beds), an annual average increase of about 1%.

Aims 

The facts which we already represented them; show the power of Medicare system which has positively impacted the stats of health in Australian society. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the problem of accessing to the public hospital in Saudi Arabia throughout a comparative study of Saudi healthcare system and Australian health care system “Medicare”. Furthermore, it will compare between the private’s health insurance systems in both countries to explore the possibilities which can make these organizations involve with the government to take part of the pressure and provide appropriate health care coverage to the Saudi society.

Methodology

In terms of methodology, I envision the project taking shape in the following manner:

1- Exhaustive study of the laws and practices of health care laws and insurance law in both countries which will establish the contexts for the Saudi legislative reform. Current legislation obtained from the Saudi Ministry of health and the Australian Minister for Health and Ageing will provide the majority of the data for this thesis, as well as secondary resources obtained from international legal databases such as Westlaw and Lexus Nexus. 

2- This thesis will employ interviews, surveys and questionnaires to obtain empirical Information on this practice.

3- It will draft legislation to suggest reforms in Saudi health care system to prevent anomalies adversely affecting the passage, function, and enforcement of the legislation is eradicated.

Expected Outcomes

This research is likely to recommend further legislations instead of the current Saudi health care legislation that can provide direct access to the Saudi hospitals. These legislations will be inspired through a comparative study of Saudi healthcare system and Australian health care system. Also, comparative study of Saudi healthcare insurance providers and Australian health care insurance providers to explore the possibility which can make these organizations involve with the government to take part of the pressure and provide appropriate health care coverage to the Saudi society. The noble purpose of this research is that provide easy access to Saudi health care provider for us and for future generations.