As Saudi Arabia’s economy grew, the first national Ministry of Health was formed in 1950 under Minister Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud.

[2] Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud was the first health minister and served in the position for three years with his main role to set up the newly formed ministry.

Dr. Hussain bin Abdulrazzaq Al Jazairy played a major role in the Kingdom's improved hospitals during his eight-year tenure between 1975 and 1983.

[6] In the early 21st century, two ministers played a major part in the development of new high-tech hospitals and infrastructure in many of the cities in the Kingdom.

In total, five Ministers were appointed during this period, including Adel Fakeih, Dr. Mohammed Al-Hayaza and Khalid Al Falih.

[16] In February 2022, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulated Saudi Arabia in eliminating Trachoma, a disease of the eye caused by infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis.

[21] Saudi Arabia identified in the past decade that health concerns with pilgrims could cause severe problems to the country's infrastructure during the pilgrimage season.

[22] As part of the same strategy, a new contingency and emergency planning were introduced by the Minister, with the creation of the Saudi Disaster Medical Assistance Team (S-DMAT).

[24] The app 'Med Consult' was launched in collaboration with King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSRelief) and the support of the World Health Organization.

As a medium to long-term aim, trails and developments demonstrated how Saudi Arabia could become a pioneering country in medical AI.

Mobile primary care became a new initiative under the Minister's guidance, which meant rural citizens in the Kingdom could access health-related services more easily.

The care industry in Saudi Arabia recognized that more people required home visits as part of a wider initiative to help the elderly and those less mobile.

[29] As part of a move toward healthier citizens of the Kingdom, the Minister announced that there would be an expansion in the number of clinics to treat tobacco addiction.

[30] The University of Massachusetts also became involved in the initiatives, signing a partnership with the Kingdom to assist in the research of the treatment of tobacco addiction.

The then Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah received a global award on behalf of the Kingdom for combatting smoking through social awareness, treatment, and application of regulations.

[14] As a wider move to improve health infrastructure in the Kingdom, the Minister opened a number of new Cardiac centers, both for operations and research.

[33] Healthcare and health infrastructure were a key performance indicators for Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, a program to increase standards across the Kingdom in a number of fields.

As part of the ongoing efforts to transform the digital interaction patients have in the country, a new app 'Mawid' was introduced to centralize health bookings.

The Minister of Health is part of a ministerial committee overlooking the implementation of many initiatives and projects in all aspects of Traffic Safety dimensions, which focuses on enforcement, engineering, education, and emergency response.

[37] In October 2024, the SVH received the Guinness World Record as the Largest Virtual Hospital during the Global Health Exhibition 2024 in Riyadh.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was one of the first countries that started precautionary and preventive measures and anticipated the danger of this disease, which turned into a global pandemic within a short period of time.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia participated in the Pledging Conference hosted by the European Commission and led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to advance the work of Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, as a member and one of the founders of this landmark Global Initiative, which espouses the shared commitment of all partners to equitable global access to innovative tools for COVID-19 for all.

[43] Owing to the experience that the Kingdom accumulated over the years in risk management and assessment to secure national and global health, ensure the security and the safety of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims every year, and develop a highly efficient health system, and to its previous experience in curbing the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV); the Kingdom took several early, evidence-based precautionary measures at the highest levels.

The Kingdom's leadership relied on its previous experience with the spread of the MERS-CoV to take a series of proactive and precautionary measures to curb COVID-19 before the first case was confirmed in the country on 2 March 2020.

[45] On 28 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia announced the temporary suspension of entry for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens to Mecca and Medina.

[46] After the first case was confirmed in the Kingdom, firm and effective precautionary measures were taken to impose social distancing, and strengthen key capabilities and resources on several fronts for virus containment, prevention, preparedness, detection, and treatment, as part of an integrated national approach to combating the pandemic.

On 20 March, Saudi Arabia suspended entry and praying to the general public at the two Holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

[49] Other measures included a partial then total curfew in various regions of the Kingdom, and the decision to treat all citizens, legal and illegal residents for free without any consequences.

Which is centered around traditional channels of communications through TVs, radios, and text messages, as well as technology and digital health programs, through the optimal use of media by publishing the most prominent developments about the pandemic and developing awareness campaigns through its website https://covid19awareness.sa/[56] aimed at spreading awareness among the community, as well as through WhatsApp messages and the use of various electronic applications such as "Tetamman" and "Mawid" applications.

[70] Thereafter, Saudi Arabia witnessed a tremendous response after the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman received the vaccination.