Saudi Red Crescent chief looks to partnerships here

THE PRESIDENT of the Saudi Red Crescent Society - which has an annual budget of approximately €160 million - has been in Ireland looking for partnership deals in the Irish medical services sector.

Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud arrived in Ireland last week from Geneva where he had discussed closer co-operation with UN relief agency UNHCR and other international organisations.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Prince Faisal said his priorities here were the development of software for the delivery of medical services, educational partnerships, and developing a relationship with the Irish Red Cross.

"Since meeting people here I am more confident with the idea that we should deal with Ireland in developing the goals of our society in relation to the development of our emergency services," he said.

The Saudi Red Crescent society is charged with responsibility for disaster and humanitarian relief but also with the delivery of all emergency medical services in the huge Saudi kingdom.

The society needs to recruit more trained paramedics and Prince Faisal visited the Royal College of Surgeons and the Dublin fire fighters academy while here, to explore partnership possibilities.

The use of software in providing medical services was another focus of the visit. Because a precise address system does not exist in Saudi Arabia, ambulances could use a satellite system to guide them towards the caller's location when an emergency call is received.

Satellite technology could also be used to send critical medical data from the ambulance directly to the hospital's system.

While here the prince met representatives of the mobile health informatics company, Valentia Technologies, and said he was impressed by the system it showed him.

Prince Faisal also met the Irish Red Cross and said he had a "really successful" meeting with David Andrews discussing his ideas for greater advance preparation by relief agencies for humanitarian disasters.

He said the Irish Red Cross was "particularly receptive" to his ideas on greater preparedness for disasters and the use of compatible software systems.