Damascus, Sept. 14 (SANA) Syria’s Health Ministry plans to introduce a new family health model at 40 health centers within weeks, as part of a broader effort to rebuild primary healthcare and modernize service delivery across the country.
The plan was outlined on Monday as the ministry launched a two-day workshop in Damascus to develop a national family health model and review guidelines for family health teams.
Health Minister Musab al-Ali said the initiative forms part of the ministry’s 2026-2028 strategic plan for rebuilding Syria’s health system and guiding the sector through the recovery phase.
The proposed model would define the role of family health teams, services offered to patients, continuity of care, referral mechanisms, quality and skills requirements and health information systems, al-Ali said.
The model will first be tested and evaluated before being gradually expanded nationwide.
Al-Ali said the approach would also reorganize services within health districts, linking primary healthcare centers with hospitals and other levels of care. Digital transformation would be central to the system, including the development of a unified electronic health record.
Such a system would provide reliable information to healthcare teams and decision-makers, helping them assess population needs, measure outcomes and make evidence-based decisions, he added.
Mohammad Salem, director of the ministry’s Primary Healthcare Directorate, told SANA the family health approach is designed to link services more closely to the needs of local communities.
Under the model, family physicians would follow patients through different stages of life, covering prevention and early detection of disease as well as treatment and follow-up care.
Salem said physicians working at participating health centers would receive training to strengthen continuity of care and build long-term relationships between families and their local health facilities.
The ministry plans to launch the model at 40 health centers within two weeks to a month once logistical and infrastructure preparations are completed, Salem said. The pilot will then be evaluated before being extended to additional centers.
Maya Arafat, head of the Family Medicine Program at the Primary Healthcare Directorate, said strengthening the role of family physicians could help provide more comprehensive and sustainable care and improve the efficiency of the primary healthcare system.
Elrasheed Idris, director of the World Health Organization’s Emergency Program, said similar family health approaches had been implemented successfully in other countries and could improve integration and continuity across primary healthcare services.
He said WHO would provide technical support to the Syrian Health Ministry and help draw on successful experiences from other countries in the region as the model is developed and implemented.
Family medicine has been part of Syria’s healthcare system for decades. The specialty was formally established in 1985, the first family physicians graduated in 1990, and integration into primary healthcare began in 1992. It was accredited by the Arab Board of Health Specializations in 1998, while a doctoral degree in family medicine was introduced in 2017.
kA/ABD
