The Ministry of Health will be able to ensure proactive and swift action against future public health challenges.

The Ministry of Health launched on Sunday a new health Command and Control Center (CCC) to increase the level of preparedness against health challenges.

The new center will function under the direct supervision of acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih in cooperation with international experts and organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The Ministry of Health will be able to ensure proactive and swift action against future public health challenges, such as MERS-CoV, within the Kingdom through continuous coordination and monitoring.

Topnotch clinicians, scientists, researchers and health care and emergency planning experts will work for the center.

“We have gained invaluable knowledge and experience while dealing with the challenge posed by the coronavirus,” said Fakeih. “For this reason, we are launching a new agency that brings together experts under a single roof to take a proactive approach from here on.”

“This new agency will not only help us effectively deal with current challenges, but also raise general preparedness levels in the future, while upgrading the quality of our health care sector,” he said.

The CCC will ensure that health challenges are managed with a systematic, holistic and comprehensive approach.

The center currently includes a total of 11 platforms, each of which is tasked with a specific topic, all under the coordination of the control tower platform.

The platforms include a central unit coordinating CCC activity, a cross-government coordination unit that ensures that the government is informed and that responsibilities and activities are coordinated, a public health unit, which will gather data and epidemiological investigation and coordinate with international partners such as the WHO and the CDC, and a scientific advisory board consisting of a team of scientists who will give advice on clinical issues.

The platforms will also include labs and a diagnostic section, whose team acts as a central unit ensuring timely and accurate results.

The team ensures samples are picked up, tested and reported within a set time frame.
The center has an epidemiology support platform. This provides crucial evidence-based information to decision-makers and recommendations for preventive and control measures, such as infection control during Umra and Haj seasons.