Saudi- Immunization drives paying off, says Health Ministry 

(MENAFN - Arab News) No new cases of diphtheria, pertussis and polio were detected in 2010 because of a successful vaccination campaign, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

"The health regions witnessed a substantial reduction in vaccine-targeted diseases during the same year as a result of intensive vaccine coverage, which reached more than 98 percent of the Kingdom," Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani said.

The official said the rate of infection in diphtheria and whooping cough decreased to zero per 100,000 people, while the incidence of tetanus neonatorum dropped to 0.01 and meningitis to 0.01. Measles fell to 1.29, rubella to 0.13, and hepatitis (B) to 18.72 per 100,000 people compared to 20.43 in 2008.

According to the Statistical Yearbook for 1431, 66 million patient visits have been recorded in all the health facilities during 2010, while 450,183 surgeries and 265,626 childbirths were recorded in the ministry's maternal wards.

Around 1.7 million patients were admitted in the ministry's hospitals, 142 million laboratory tests were carried out and 5 million radiographic examinations were performed. Some 19 million emergency cases were treated in the hospitals and primary health care centers, according to the report.

There were 249 hospitals under the Ministry of Health with a total capacity of 34,370 beds, and 2,094 primary health care centers.

The Kingdom has 65,619 physicians, with Saudis accounting for 21.7 percent of this total. There are 3,073 Saudi dentists out of a total of 9,160 in the country and there are 2,583 Saudi pharmacists working for government facilities out of a total of 4,579.