RIYADH: Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah has highlighted the importance of health care in the private sector. Dr. Al-Rabiah said that the government was committed to creating the optimal investment environment for the health sector to make it more attractive.   “The plan is to raise the Kingdom’s position and compete with most developed countries, through internal restructuring, including the establishment of tasks to develop health investment and the launch of electronic licensing programs, which is reducing the process of issuing licenses to minutes,” he said.   One of the objectives of the Ministry of Health (MOH) is to increase the contribution of the private health sector, considering the support of entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises, and giving it more attention as being the main driver of the national economy.   Dr. Al-Rabiah said that the most important aim of the conference was to raise awareness about entrepreneurship in the private sector with the participation of the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority, where health has developed a department dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship. During Dr. Al-Rabiah’s inauguration on Wednesday in Riyadh at the Global Health Exhibition, he said that the Ministry of Health was giving its full attention to making the most of health potential and innovations. “2030’s Vision in the health sector focuses on the importance of health care, the health care model, and health in all policies, which rely heavily on innovations.” Dr. Al-Rabiah said in his speech at the “Leaders in Health Care” conference, held within the forum, that the Ministry of Health had four robots in Riyadh, Asir, Najran and Dammam that had preformed more than 700 operations.   Dr. Al-Rabiah said that the Global Health Exhibition assimilated international experiences and aspired to contribute to the global dialogue on the challenges of the health system and the solutions available to serve the goal of universal health coverage and other sustainable development goals endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN. As part of this event, the MOH and Pfizer Saudi Arabia have signed a strategic partnership agreement to support the ministry’s efforts to improve the health of citizens. This partnership will help to contribute to better medical care and health outcomes by helping smokers to quit the habit through a range of initiatives. Pfizer and the MOH are working toward the goal of a “smoke-free Kingdom” by 2030.FASTFACT The MoH and Pfizer Saudi Arabia have signed a strategic partnership agreement to support the ministry’s efforts to improve the health of citizens. Dr. Ali Al-Wadei, director of the Tobacco Control Program at the Ministry of Health, said that the partnership was important in motivating smokers to attend anti-smoking clinics to help them quit with the help of specialists and according to scientific methods. The target is to assist more than 200,000 smokers to quit in 2019.   The country manager of Saudi Pfizer, Dr. Alaa Gamal, said that the new partnership comes from the common desire of both parties to contribute to the success of the National Transformation Plan and the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. Dr. Gamal told Arab news that this cooperation would help to spread awareness in the Saudi community about the dangers of smoking. “We are targeting a large number of smokers in our awareness campaigns to go to specialized clinics that help them to quit smoking under the supervision of a group of specialists.   “The implementation of the new anti-smoking system is an essential part of the Kingdom’s ambitious vision to contribute to the achievement of its goals of a vibrant society and a healthy environment,” he said.