Hamad Al-Dhewalia is the vice minister of health affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Health, and a member of the board of directors of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.  He also led the delegation from the Kingdom at the 51st session of the Arab Health Ministers Council, which concluded on Thursday in Cairo. During the meeting, the ministers affirmed the importance of promoting joint action to protect public health, prevent the spread of epidemics and provide comprehensive health care for citizens, and of cooperation with the World Health Organization to counter noncommunicable diseases. Al-Dhewalia said that Saudi Arabia is fully prepared to host in September this year an advanced training course for those involved in responding to public health emergencies, and participated in discussions of other important issues during the meeting. The minister obtained a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from King Saud University in Riyadh in 1979, a master’s degree in hospital management from Arizona University in 1988, and completed a number of management courses around the world.  He worked at Saudi Aramco for 29 years, from 1981 to 2009, during which time he held a number of positions, the last of which was general manager of medical services at Aramco Hospital. Between 2003 and 2014, Al-Dhewalia was a board member of the Saud Al-Babtain Center for Cardiac Surgery in Dammam. He was also the CEO of Al-Ahsa Hospital from 2010 to 2011. He served as the CEO of King Abdullah Medical Complex in Jeddah and as general director of King Fahd Hospital and East Jeddah Hospital in 2014, and was an adviser to the minister of health in 2015.