Background Saudi Arabia is currently passing through a transformational phase. There is a huge demand on the Saudi healthcare system to provide better healthcare facilities to the rapidly increasing Saudi population, as well as the growing elderly population. Lack of trained healthcare professionals and heavy reliance on foreign workers are significant aspects for policymakers to consider and deal with. It is also important to re-examine the healthcare Human Resource Development (HRD) initiatives so as to provide a huge reserve of healthcare professionals with appropriate learning and competence. Method This paper is a critical review based on secondary data collected from various sources including databases, reports, articles, books, government documents and earlier research undertaken in this regard. The paper is an attempt to document and evaluate the various steps suggested and undertaken by the new strategic plan, Vision 2030, and consequently documented in the National Transformation Program (NTP) adopted in April 2016 in the healthcare HRD sphere in Saudi Arabia. Results It has been shown that appropriate HRD capacity building needs to be adopted along with the aggressive policy regulation. It is also important to ensure that future health sector investment meets the needs of local healthcare HRD. Saudization and the adoption of the ‘Nitaqat’ program have played an effective role in pushing the Saudization targets in the private sector, and there is a huge scope for the absorption of young trained Saudi boys and girls in the healthcare sector. Conclusion Vision 2030 adopted in 2016 is a testimony to a revolutionary step undertaken by the government and that the healthcare sector is also passing through a major shift in its approach and execution. Vision 2030 has come out with a very clear sense of direction to the healthcare sector, and the projected shift from the existing one-third to two-third Saudi-to-foreigner workforce ratio by the year 2030 needs to be adopted carefully to turn the healthcare HRD challenges into opportunities.

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Purpose -In recent years, effective leadership initiatives have been emphasized in the healthcare industry all over the world. This paper aims to examine contemporary healthcare development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and prescribe four essential policy dimensions to its leadership, depicting the imperative needs for direction, integration, revision, and evidence -the "DIRE needs" approach. Design/methodology/approach -The paper reviews literature on the contemporary KSA health system and provides guidelines for policy reforms vis-à -vis the emerging challenges. Findings -First, the paper offers a conceptual model to examine the ongoing and future health policy development of the KSA. It identifies four key policy dimensions -direction, integration, revision, and evidence and links these to the scope of broader health sector reforms. Second, it characterizes these dimensions as key initiatives for health resource capacity and infrastructural development, essentially the primary health care, which need to be taken up by KSA mainstream health services leadership. Third, it underlines the importance of integrating institutional research and information systems for evidence-based policy-making and practicable implementation. Fourth, it offers a social science research perspective to the need for multi-dimensional health policy reforms in the KSA. Research limitations/implications -This paper opens up KSA health leadership initiatives that may be viewed as the DIRE needs, to be mainstreamed in the domains of policy and strategic planning, research and development, and healthcare management practices. Originality/value -Social research in KSA health policy and planning is rare. This paper introduces a context-specific multi-dimensional model that provides critical insights into challenges and complexities that the Saudi health leadership must attend to. It defines a set of four essential benchmarking dimensions for guiding future policy reforms.

The current research investigates brand equity on patients' purchasing behaviors in private dental practice in Jeddah. This research proposes and tests a four-factor model that influences purchasing behaviors. These factors include the independent variables of brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, and perceived quality, while the dependent variable is purchasing behavior. In order to explore this issue, a quantitative method was used in the form of a questionnaire issued in the researched hospitals in Jeddah city in Saudi Arabia. The research targeted a sample of 360 patients, instead of the entire population. A random sample was used to choose the participants in this research. The research retrieved 306 valid questionnaires, which represented a response rate of 85%. The results confirm significant differences in the influence of these factors on purchasing behavior. The research concludes that there are significant influences from brand awareness, brand image, brand loyalty, and perceived quality. The research recommends that medication accessibility and availability needs regularly improved, and purchasing behaviour continuously monitored. It is also recommended that the dental service provider should concentrate on perceived quality by improving their technical equipment, using an expert frontline staff pool to select their employees from, and providing qualified dental services represented by perfect behavior, and a decent-looking and comfortable environment.