Saudi Arabia - MoH: Dr. Ziad Memish apparently fired - "face" of coronavirus MERS situation in country

[sharon sanders]

hat tip Michael Coston

Monday, June 02, 2014

An Unexpected Announcement From The Saudi MOH

# 8697

Dr. Ziad Memish ? Deputy Minister of Health for Saudi Arabia ? has been the very public face of the Saudi?s efforts (for better or worse) to quantify and control the MERS Coronavirus. His name has been attached to many of the studies that have been conducted by labs around the world on this emerging coronavirus (see here,here, andhere).

Despite this notoriety, he has also had to fend off growing international criticism on the slow progress being made against the spread of MERS, and very recently publicly stated he was `surprised? at the criticisms being lodged.
​

Today, in the briefest of statements on the Saudi MOH website, we get word that suggests that Dr. Memish is no longer acting as the Deputy Minister of Health.

A hat tip to @dspalten and@ilhamabuljadaye whose twitter conversation led me to the link. Reasons for Dr. Memish?s departure are not elucidated.

Health Minister who issues a decree absolving Dr. Ziad mimsh Undersecretary of public health Office
04 July 1435
The Minister of Health issued a designated engineer Adel bin Mohammed faqeeh said a decision to release Dr. Ziad Ben Ahmed mimsh Undersecretary of public health Office
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Posted by Michael Coston at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://afludiary.blogspot.ca/2014/06/an-unexpected-announcement-from-saudi.html" rel="bookmark" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" itemprop="datePublished" title="2014-06-02T13:58:00-04:00">1:58 PM</abbr>



http://afludiary.blogspot.ca/2014/06/an-unexpected-announcement-from-saudi.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Saudi Arabia - MoH: Dr. Ziad Memish apparently fired - "face" of coronavirus MERS situation in country

computertranslation

06/02/2014 - 21:20

An exemption under the Ministry of Health of public health from his post


Exemption and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health of the Public Health office


The Minister in charge of health, Adel Al-Faqih, a decision to increase the exemption Dr Ahmad MEMC Undersecretary of Public Health, resigned.

Where it appears the new center through the efforts of coordinating and monitoring the ongoing ability of the ministry to carry out pre-emptive action and quick public health such as HIV (Corona).

And works in the (command and control) doctors, scientists and researchers, and health care experts and planning for emergencies.

It was the development of the center - which operates under the direct supervision of the Minister of Health - in collaboration with international experts and organizations, such as the World Health Organization, and the Agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to Adel Al-Faqih, the center helps to effectively deal with the current challenges, and contribute to higher levels of overall preparedness for the future, in addition to upgrading the quality of the health care sector in the Kingdom in general.

Slaati

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Saudi Arabia - MoH: Dr. Ziad Memish apparently fired - "face" of coronavirus MERS situation in country

Saudi Arabia sacks health official over handling of Mers

Memish was criticised by international scientists for his reluctance accept help from laboratories around the world

Reuters - Published: 15:30 June 3, 2014

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has sacked Deputy Health Minister Ziad Memish who has been criticised by some international scientists over his handling of the deadly Mers virus that has infected 575 people in the kingdom and spread around the world.

Memish was a key figure in Saudi Arabia?s efforts to contain the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers), a virus that causes coughing, fever and sometimes fatal pneumonia.

Gulf News