Director General of Health Affairs in Jeddah Dr. Sami Badawood on Tuesday urged the Ministry of Health to increase training and improvement programs for nurses. Badawood made the call in a meeting with officials of a project to improve the nursing sector in Jeddah. The project called “Portal of Change” is being implemented by the General Administration of Nursing. Its officials are in Jeddah on a two-day tour. They will visit various health centers and emergency wards at King Abdul Aziz Hospital and King Fahd General Hospital in addition to the Health Affairs’ nursing administration in Jeddah. The project aims to evaluate the efficiency of nursing sections in hospitals. The project also studies workers’ technical skills, work capacity and educational and training qualifications. Badawood stressed the need to adopt advanced techniques and equipment in the field of nursing. The meeting discussed the project’s success last year and details of its plans for the future. The Portal of Change project has brought about changes such as bringing various sections of nursing under the organizational structure of the Directorate of Health Affairs. As a result of the efforts of the project, the nursing administration has become a primary member of the Health Directorate’s committees for technical development, comprehensive development, transport and distribution. Senior officials of the nursing administration will also have to meet regularly to evaluate their productivity and update activities. In another development, Badawood met Tuesday with the director and members of the emergency committee at the Health Directorate in Jeddah to discuss periodic emergency drills and to identify locations that needed special support. The meeting stressed the need for a rapid response from hospitals in emergency situations. It approved the weekly schedule for emergency drills in hospitals, including health centers. Badawood said the drills would test and boost the preparedness of medical and first aid workers to face emergencies besides their ability to coordinate with related departments in emergency situations. Those who attended the meeting included Assistant Director of Health Affairs for Curative Medicine Dr. Turki Al-Shareef and Assistant Director for Financial and Administrative Matters Saleh Al-Meshdaq.