Article 13 of the Saudi Private Health Institutions Law

This article sets two linked rules for clinics and medical complexes:

First: availability. They must have a sufficient quantity of:

• Emergency medicines.
• Emergency means.

The reference for identifying these medicines and means is the Implementing Regulations; the Law does not name them.

Second: ban on sale. Clinics and complexes are prohibited from selling these medicines and means. They are there for emergency care, not for trade.

Whom does the rule cover? Clinics and medical complexes. Under the definitions in Article 1, a general medical complex is a place equipped to receive and treat patients with at least three specialties, a specialized medical complex is a complex of clinics in one or more specialties, and a clinic is a place equipped to receive patients, examine them and treat them.

Note that, as the text is worded, the ban is tied to the medicines and means "that the Regulations specify", so the article does not address other products.

The practical purpose is clear: that a clinic be able to deal with any emergency that befalls a patient, without becoming a point for selling medicines.

Article 14 follows, which requires, for licensing a general and a specialized medical complex, at least one consultant in each licensed main specialty and a nurse for each clinic. It is preceded by Article 12, which requires every health institution to report infectious diseases.