Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced the application of new standards in government and private hospitals to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Saudi Gazette, the Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI) said that a new list of “updated” criteria to combat the virus will be implemented.
“The evaluation of hospitals under the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the private sector will begin this week. This will be undertaken in two phases in accordance with the updated standards as well as in line with the updates issued by MoH.
Speaking to Al-Arabiya, Dr. Salem Al-Wahhabi, director-general of CBAHI, said that the center, in line with a directive from Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, has issued the updated version of the criteria to combat coronavirus.
Specialized field teams from CBAHI will follow these criteria during their surprise visits to the MoH and private hospitals, which are dealing with coronavirus cases in order to ensure the strict application of the updated standards.
Al-Wahhabi said CBAHI is keen to apply the highest safety standards in hospitals. “We will not be lenient in our commitment to undertake strict evaluation and application of the standards in fighting coronavirus.
CBAHI is always striving to work successfully in accordance with its slogan of “Eye on the quality of healthcare,” he added. It is noteworthy that the principal function of CBAHI is to set the healthcare quality and patient safety standards against which all healthcare facilities are evaluated for evidence of compliance.
