by Linda Straker
- PM attended Caricom-Saudi Arabia Summit on 16 November 2023
- Government seeking investment or investors for construction of teaching hospital
- Saudi Arabia’s minister for health offered to host Grenada technical team
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said that Government is seriously considering partnering with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to improve the islands’ public healthcare services, including the building of a new teaching hospital.
“So, we recognise that we are not just seeking investment or investors to assist us with the construction of our teaching hospital as part of our overall medical strategy, but we do recognise that we have to tackle the challenges that we face in our primary healthcare system,” he told the media during a news conference on Wednesday, 22 November 2023.
“And the virtual hospital, not just the virtual hospital, the policy initiatives, the technology that we were exposed to, give us the opportunity to seriously consider partnering with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assist us in that area.” The Prime Minister attended the inaugural Caricom-Saudi Arabia Summit held on 16 November 2023.
“We have on offer from them, memoranda of understanding in particular to allow technical teams from Grenada to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so that we can have further conversations in relation to policy, guidance, advise potential investment as well as opportunity for training, technology exchange and information,” said the Prime Minister.
Confirming that there were several bilateral discussions with Saudi Arabian government officials, he said that in the case of the Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia’s minister for health offered to host a technical team from Grenada. “So that we can explore further the possibility of collaborating with them in relations to the virtual hospital and how they have been able to use it as a tool to enhance the services of citizens to Saudi Arabia,” he said, pointing out that Government is seeking investment or investors for the construction of the proposed teaching hospital.
Praising Saudi Arabia for the use of technology to open a virtual hospital, the Prime Minister said that he was impressed with the initiative and the role it is playing to save and improve lives. “One of the key things that was noticeable from the virtual hospital is the use of data to track health trends within Saudi Arabia,” he said.
He explained that a key policy initiative that was shared with summit attendees, was shifting healthcare from one of sickness to that of wellness and that of prevention, to ensure that the primary healthcare system is really transformed. “You can protect the secondary and tertiary primary healthcare system because if not, you can build 10 new hospitals, you can have all of the modern equipment but if your population is not healthy, if your population life expectancy is in decline, it simply means that you will not be able to address the many health challenges by simply building facilities,” he said.
