ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says Grenada is considering partnering with Saudi Arabia to improve the island’s public healthcare services including the building of a new teaching hospital.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell“So, we recognize that we are not just seeking investment or investors to assist us with the construction of our teaching hospital as part of our overall medical strategy, but we do recognize that we have to tackle the challenges that we face in our primary health care system,” Mitchell told a news conference on Wednesday.
“And the virtual hospital, not just the virtual hospital, the policy initiatives, the technology that we were exposed to give us the opportunity to seriously consider partnering with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to assist us in that area,” said Prime Minister Mitchell, who attended the inaugural Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-Saudi Arabia Summit held in Riyadh.
“We have on offer from them, memorandums of understanding in particular to allow technical teams from Grenada to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so that we can have further conversations in relations to policy, guidance, advise potential investment as well as opportunity for training, technology exchange and information,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell confirmed that there were several bilateral discussions with the Saudi Arabia government officials and that Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Health offered to host a technical team from Grenada.
“So that we can explore further the possibility of collaborating with them in relation to the virtual hospital and how they have been able to use it as a tool to enhance the services of citizens to Saudi Arabia,” he said, noting that the government is seeking investment or investors for the construction of the proposed teaching hospital.
Praising Saudi Arabia for the use of technology to open a virtual hospital, Prime Minister Mitchell said that he was impressed with the initiative and the role it is playing to save and improve lives.
“One of the key things that was noticeable from the virtual hospital is the use of data to track health trends within Saudi Arabia,” he said.
