Health History

The early stages of the preventive health care program focused upon the reduction of communicable diseases in the Eastern Province.

During the search for oil on the Arabian Peninsula in the early 1930's, supermarkets and advanced water treatment plants of today did not exist. The prospectors soon learned that they had to protect their food and water from contamination, to dispose of waste properly and to observe hygienic practices. These tasks were assigned to the exploration team's physician who was, in effect, the company's first preventive medicine advisor.

The Malaria Control program begun in 1947 exemplifies the success of this cooperative effort. This program commenced in the al-Hasa and Qatif oases in 1947. Control activities were expanded in 1951, and at government request, into the Yabrin oasis. As a result of these control efforts, the prevalence of malaria among company employees and their dependents fell from 2,000 cases in 1947, to 94 cases in 1949, and then to 0 cases in 1958.

The Preventive Medicine staff now includes educators, environmental specialists, physicians, audiologists, chemists, epidemiologists, optometrists and many other specialists.