KUWAIT, July 23 (KUNA) -- Kuwait plans to transform its national healthcare system as part of efforts to parlay global expertise and insight into more efficient healthcare services and adequate staff training, its health ministry said on Wednesday.
Listing a spate of healthcare development projects that had come to fruition, chief among them a burgeoning digital drive, ministry spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad told a press conference that similar initiatives are underway to keep development in Kuwait's healthcare industry on an upward trajectory.
The most notable of these is the sprawling new Al-Adan hospital, which is part of a ministry strategy to disperse such facilities into specialized "medical zones," which comprise areas such as Al-Ahmadi and Al-Sabah, the spokesman said, citing the plan as part of the ministry's efforts to provide "extensive" healthcare coverage.
He went on to cite other initiatives that had come to light, including a special program called "First Responder," launched earlier this month, which comprises some 28 medical units designed to provide immediate attention to urgent cases.
The ministry routinely invites some of the world's most renowned healthcare professionals, 140 of whom have already visited, in a bid to instill global expertise into local personnel, subsequently ratcheting up the quality of the ministry's services, Al-Sanad underlined.
One of the most innovative healthcare projects the ministry had recently launched was deploying some 20 Automated External Defibrillators at Kuwait's International Airport to provide immediate assistance to those experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, all of which are portable and user-friendly, he noted.
Providing intricate healthcare data, the spokesman said that emergency units across healtcare facilities nationwide have dealt with some 200,000 cases last January, while there are some 117 primary healthcare centers all over Kuwait, he said.
On other healthcare facilities, he said that Kuwait has around 38 maternity clinics and 72 mental health clinics, in addition to 35 preventive healthcare centers and 20 ophthalmology clinics, according to ministry data.
Dishing out other statistics, he said that some 4,275 women had applied for early breast cancer detection so far this year, as compared to 8,141 last year and 1,114 in 2023, for a cumulative total of 13,530.
On other data, the spokesman said that 872 bedridden patients were the recipients of healthcare aid as part of a relevant ministry program, pushing forward an all-inclusive healthcare coverage plan, he added. (end) mrv.nam