RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has achieved the unprecedented by launching the first Saudi Health Economics and Policy Experts Dialogue over two days under the umbrella of the Saudi Scientific Diabetes Society.

It is the first initiative of its kind in the field of economics of managing diabetes and its complications, which aims to adopt a clear mechanism and specific criteria for evaluating diabetes medications within the framework of the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

This first of its kind congress was attended by more than 300 health care professionals and more than 40 speakers and experts from inside and outside the Kingdom, during which they discussed more than 20 scientific papers to shed the light on the concept of partnership between the different health sectors in the field of treating diabetes and its complications, in addition to the contributing factors to increasing the therapeutic efficiencies and rationalization of the accompanying expenses.

In this regard, Professor Abdulrahman Alshaikh, president of the Saudi Scientific Diabetes Society, spoke about the importance of addressing the gap represented by the lack of highly efficient evaluation platforms in the field of managing the costs of diabetes treatments in health facilities.

He said: “Diabetes is the most common disease and it is one of the biggest causes of death among the population in the Kingdom, and the cost of controlling diabetes and its complications is one of the most burdens faced by the kingdom when choosing innovative and most appropriate treatments for patients, especially since the evaluation and comparison of different medicines is based on the direct cost of the medication and therapeutic properties together.”

Dr. Saud Alsifri, member of the scientific committee of the congress, stressed that this scientific movement organized and sponsored by the Saudi Scientific Diabetes Society is just an extension of the ambitious plan launched by the wise leadership, the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the National Transformation 2020 program. — SG