Improving eye health care infrastructure in Al-baha region

Executive Summary 

The main aim of this report is to develop project proposal for improving the eye health care system of Al-baha region of Saudi Arabia. The eye related complications are common in people within Al-baha region and eye care system is not well developed in the region, making it difficult for the people to get access to qualified eye care services. The common eye issues in Al-baha region include; Strabismus, ocular trauma, infection of cornea and glaucoma and keratoconus, among others. The research has highlighted that around 120,000 people in this region are sufferer os eye complications and lack of timely treatment can cause visual impairments in some cases. Al-baha region has less developed eye care infrastructure which calls for attention of health ministry to develop the new facilities, as well as to refurbish the existing facilities. This issue has been incorporated as basis of this proposal, with an aim of assuring that marginal communities of Al-baha region can be given access to quality eye care services. The key stakeholders which are needed to collaborate their efforts for project completion are; health ministry of Saudi Arabia, municipality of Al-baha region, project design and planning team, project construction team, community of Al-baha region and patients at large. All these stakeholders will coordinate to assure that project is completed successfully. In order to assure success of project, continual monitoring and evaluation of the project will be carried out, such that any gaps in activities of project can be found and addressed in timely manner. The evaluation will be conducted on continual basis and it will be assured that project milestones are met. Finally, the budget of project has been given to incorporate multiple project activities.  

Introduction 

The health care system in Saudi Arabia is mainly occupied by national healthcare providers, yet contribution of private agencies is also substantial in making the effort to provide high quality care to population. In spite of these efforts, the vulnerable population is exposed to financial as well as accessibility issues in availing effective health care services. For instance, the population of rural communities is considered as most vulnerable to health issues, due to lack of adequate healthcare services in the region. Al-baha region is considered as one such instance of Saudi regions, where communities face issues in accessing quality healthcare facilities. The total population of Al-baha region is 487,108, out of which 81,354 individuals are above age of 50 years (General Authority for Statistics, 2019). The elderly population is most likely to develop eye problems, and their capability to travel towards urban areas for accessing eye care services is also limited. In similar way, the women comprise around half of the population of region and they are also considered as vulnerable population, when it comes to health and wellbeing. The eye care infrastructure in Al-baha region is marginal, based on the increased cost of developing the infrastructure in far-flung areas. The Government has gained realization of the fact and they need to develop eye care facilities in Al-baha region and also need to refurbish its existing facilities to adjust with eye care needs of the population. However, cost associated with construction of facilities and acquisition of qualified man power and equipment acts as a hurdle in the way of developing effective eye care system. Additionally, the healthcare staff mainly prefers to work in the area which is more developed and has high accessibility prospects, making it difficult to arrange qualified staff in rural areas. These hurdle indicate that eye care is significant issue for people of Al-baha region and thus need substantial consideration of researchers and practitioners.  

The underlying project is an effort to explore the issue in greater depth, such that suggestions can be made to enhance the effectiveness of eye care system in Al-baha region. The detailed description of project is provided, encompassing information on target population, goals and objectives of project, stakeholders of project, project’s time table, monitoring and evaluation and budget. 

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Problem Statement 

Number of eye related issues are witnessed in communities of Saudi Arabia, which encompass; Strabismus, ocular trauma, infection of cornea and glaucoma and keratoconus, among others. The eye related complications are much common in Al-baha region, where specialized eye care services are not available and people suffering from such complications are enforced to travel to urban areas for availing specialized eye care services. Women, Children and elderly need to accompany someone with them, if they have to travel for acquisition of specialized eye care to other regions (Umfress and Brantley, 2017). It adds up substantially in cost of accessing the eye health care services. Additionally, if treatment is delayed then it might cause visual impairments and even blindness among the sufferers. Based on this fact, it is highly important to focus on development of eye health care system in Al-baha region, such that patients can easily access quality eye care services in their home region, without travelling to other urban areas.  

Project Description  

Description of proposed program  

The identified problem is linked with lack of specialized facilities and services for eye care, which needs to be focused through implementation of practical solutions. It is proposed that this problem can be addressed through construction of new eye care facilities in Al-baha region, along with focused on refurbishment and improvement of existing facilities. The key aim is to ensure that all marginal community members of Al-baha region, who are suffering from eye related complications, are made available with affordable and easily accessible eye care services. The economic and social issues of individuals should no longer act as hurdle in accessing quality eye care in Al-baha region. These measures will lead to reduce the eye related complications, by treating the patients in timely manner, such that issues of blindness or any other kind of visual impairment can be controlled.  

With this regard, the construction of new eye care facilities will make up the core focus of project, along with refurbishing the existing facilities. The allocation of highly qualified and experienced eye care professionals, allocation of adequate financial resources, allocation of needed equipment and development of effective accountability system are all important for delivering specialized eye care services in desired manner. The overall capacity building of eye care sector in Al-baha region will be focused to address any kind of discrimination in the region, such as social or financial barriers (Olusanya et al., 2016). Finally, the project also includes awareness programs, which will be initiated to educate the community members on eye related complications, such that any issues can be addressed on early staged to avoid any long term complications.  

Identification of target population  

The target population for the project is comprised of people with eye complications in Al-baha region of Saudi Arabia. Out of total population of the region, around 120,000 people are said to have eye related conditions including; Strabismus, ocular trauma, infection of cornea and glaucoma and keratoconus, among others, which require consideration of health care professionals. The individuals with eye complications are both male and female, belonging from different age groups. However, the elderly make up high proportion of population with eye related problems. It is noted that when timely care is not offered, then chances of impaired eye sight and blindness are likely to be witnessed within community members. Therefore, aim will be to construct eye care facilities and to improve existing facilities, such that issues of eye health can be controlled and enhanced satisfaction of target population can be obtained.  

Project goals, objectives and activities  

The detail of goals, objectives and activities of the project can be seen in the table 1 below.  

Table 1. Log frame matrix of the project 

Other organizations / collaborators participating in the project and their role 

In order to effectively deliver project of this scale, the contribution and collaboration of multiple parties is needed, such that resources can be easily arranged to attain the intended objectives of the project (Sunder, 2016). Additionally, the satisfaction of interests of wider stakeholders is also considered as an important parameter for defining the success of the project. It indicates that identification of stakeholders and their role is important for ensuring success of project. Some of the key stakeholders for this project are; 

• Ministry of health of Saudi Arabia 
• Project planning and design team 

• Construction team 
• Sponsors of the project 
• Municipality of Al-baha region 
• Community of Al-baha region 
• Patient with eye complications 

Ministry of health of Saudi Arabia will assess the feasibility and viability of the project, with an aim of allocating funding for initiating the project. Ministry of health will approve the proposal of the project to encourage the planning and design team of project to start work. Additionally, collaboration with municipality of Al-baha region will also be made by ministry of health, such that locations of new facilities can be decided. Additionally, the data generated by ministry of health will also be used to forecast the number of patients with eye care complications in Al-baha region, such that decision on capacity of facilities can be made.  

Project planning and design team will then work on developing the project guidelines. The design of eye care facilities, needed resources, manpower, finance and other requirements of the project will be defined by the team, such that approval on resources can be obtained from regulatory authorities. The planning and design team will also formulate the time frame of the project. The construction team will follow all these plans to assure that project is delivered in timely manner. Along with construction of new facilities, the refurbishment of existing facilities will also be carried out by the planning and construction team of the project.  

The project sponsor is mainly considered as a key entity in overseeing the project activities to assure that all activities go as planned. The sponsor of the eye care development in AL-baha region will mainly be the Governmental entity, who will allocate the resources to develop the eye care system of the region.  

Municipality of Al-baha region will approve the design of the facilities, along with assuring that standards of construction are followed in effective manner. Additionally, followed by completion of construction and refurbishment phase of the project, municipality will assure the needed amount of eye care specialized professionals along with nursing staff and paramedics is allocated, with needed equipment. The compliance with eye care standards will also be analyzed.  

Community of the region will contribute towards the project by offering the needed support and resources. They will be the key stakeholder, as facilities will be developed in their region and their coordination is crucial to assure for effective delivery of eye care services in the region (Papke-Shields and Boyer-Wright, 2017). The community will also help in launching and delivery of awareness programs, such that people with eye complications can be educated to avail the eye care services.  

Finally, the population of Al-baha region is the key target of the project and serve as the main stakeholder, whose satisfaction will serve as the key indicator for defining the project success. Around 120,000 patients with eye related complications are initially targeted, however, the proportion might not remain fixed and change is expected. The collaboration of patients with eye care providers is crucial to define the successful delivery of eye care services.  

Timetable for implementation (Gantt chart)  

Monitoring and Evaluation  

The ongoing monitoring of the project is crucial for ensuring that all project activities go as planned and key intended objectives of the projects are focused in effective manner (Aragonés-Beltrán, García-Melón and Montesinos-Valera, 2017). For instance, the frequent assessment is carried out on daily basis to check that whether project activities are carried out within defined budget and time frame. If any delay is witnessed, then timely actions are taken to keep the project on track (Kerzner, 2017). The given tables can be seen as an example of reports which will be needed to track the performance of the project.  

It can be seen that there is substantial variance in the costs of different activities, which shows either inflation or deflation from the actual assigned budget. Based on these figures, the project planning and design team can make decisions of further improvement, whereby they might improve procedures to keep the cost of activities within allocated budget.  

The evaluation of the project will be done to ensure that all milestones of the project are met in given timeframe within specified budget. Any deviation is considered as a gap in performance of the project and thus measures are taken to enhance project performance (Kerzner, 2017). For instance, leader of the project will analyze the key outcomes of the project and comparison will be made with the anticipated goals and objectives of the project. If all of goals of the project are accomplished with no delays and within specified budget, then it will be considered as successful completion of the project. These results could be implicated in other regions, such that same project design and plan can be followed to develop eye care system. Finally, these success indicators will be shared with all concerning stakeholders of the project.   

 Followed by completion of the project, the evaluation will be done on the number of patients who are actually monitored and treated for eye related complications. For instance, if number of patients screened are equal to the number of patients treated, and there are not referred patients, then it can be said that eye care is delivered in effective way. It is expected that number of patients with eye related complications will reduce gradually and there will be minimum complicated cases, such as patients with eye impairments. In order to analyze the satisfaction of patients with the system, the survey and interviews with the patients will be conducted and their satisfaction will define the success of the project.   

Budget  

References 

Aragonés-Beltrán, P., García-Melón, M. and Montesinos-Valera, J., 2017. How to assess stakeholders’ influence in project management? A proposal based on the Analytic Network Process. International journal of project management, 35(3), pp.451-462. 

Kerzner, H., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons. 

Papke-Shields, K.E. and Boyer-Wright, K.M., 2017. Strategic planning characteristics applied to project management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(2), pp.169-179. 

Sunder M, V., 2016. Lean six sigma project management–a stakeholder management perspective. The TQM Journal, 28(1), pp.132-150. 

Olusanya, B.A., Ashaye, A.O., Owoaje, E.T., Baiyeroju, A.M. and Ajayi, B.G., 2016. Determinants of utilization of eye care services in a rural adult population of a developing country. Middle East African journal of ophthalmology, 23(1), p.96. 

Umfress, A. and Brantley, M., 2017, Eye Care Disparities and Health Related Consequences in Elderly Patients with Age-Related Eye Disease, Seminars in Ophthalmology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 432–438. 

General Authority for Statistics, 2019. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accessed 31 March 2020, < https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/node >