Regional Competitiveness of Healthcare Services in Saudi Arabia

Healthcare services are one of the most important services for any country. The welfare of the citizens largely depends upon the availability of competent and affordable healthcare services in the region. The Saudi Government has attached considerable importance to enhancing the healthcare sector in the Vision 2030. This study aims to develop a model for measuring competitiveness of healthcare services in the different regions of Saudi Arabia, which may be useful to the health ministry in monitoring the progress of healthcare services in the region. The proposed model was used to examine the current competitiveness of the 13 administrative regions of Saudi Arabia and to identify the scope for improvement of healthcare parameters. The regional healthcare competitiveness was measured across 18 dimensions on a scale of 0 to 10. It was observed that the overall healthcare competitiveness index of Riyadh region was the highest while that of Asir region was the lowest. The proposed model allows scope for further refinement and enhancements.