RIYADH: The Global Health Exhibition 2025 was inaugurated today by Saudi Minister of Health Fahad Al-Jalajel at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center.
The exhibition, in its eigth edition, will run until Thursday under the theme “Invest in Health.”
It was organized by events company Tahaluf with the support of the Ministry of Health.
“I am delighted to be here today at the Global Health Exhibition, in its eighth edition, and happy to see the numbers increasing every year, including the number of international speakers, CEOs of major companies or even the number of investments,” Al-Jalajel told Arab News.
He added that he was “happy to see that in the previous edition of the summit, we have reached SR55 billion ($14.66 billion) in investment, this year we have witnessed partnerships and projects totaling SR124 billion thus far and will continue to follow up in the coming days.”
During his opening remarks, the minister noted that the world continues to face growing health challenges including a rise in chronic diseases, escalating healthcare costs and a shortage of qualified medical professionals.
Speaking to Arab News, he elaborated on the methods that the Ministry of Health uses to measure the quality of services provided in the Kingdom.
“Measuring the quality of healthcare services involves numerous indicators, whether related to patient outcomes and their perception of care quality, patient satisfaction, or the quality of the healthcare services themselves, based on operational and health quality standards.”
He continued: “Within the Health Transformation Program, several organizations monitor these aspects, including the Facility Safety Program, the Saudi Patient Safety Center, the Council of Health Insurance, and the Saudi Health Council.
“Each entity tracks a specific set of indicators, whether related to healthcare practitioners, medical devices in coordination with the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, or the performance of healthcare facilities.”
The minister highlighted some of the major news during the opening ceremony such as Saudi Arabia achieving a 40 percent reduction in deaths from chronic diseases since 2017.
He also highlighted how the Kingdom has seen a nearly 60 percent decrease in traffic accident fatalities since 2016, and a growth in the rate of life expectancy to 79 years in 2025 from 74 in 2016.
Additionally, several announcements were made regarding the launch of new initiatives, including the AI Physician experience which aims to improve disease diagnosis, the localization of vaccine manufacturing in collaboration with leading global companies, and the introduction of the Smart Health Coach which was developed in partnership with Google through the Sehhaty application.
