RIYADH, 11 May — The nursing sector has the potential to accommodate a large number of unemployed male and female Saudis, as 53,000 nurses in the Kingdom’s hospitals are presently expatriates.
“Saudis account for only 18 percent of the total number of nurses,” said Dr. Sabah Hussein Abu Zinada, assistant director of the nursing department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.
She estimated the number of Saudi nurses at 12,000.
“The other problem with those Saudis who are nurses is that the vast majority of them are not fully qualified,” Al-Watan newspaper yesterday quoted Dr. Sabah as saying.
She called for more nursing colleges to be set up to train locals in the profession.
“We should also Saudize nursing jobs at private hospitals within the next four to five years, to encourage Saudis to undertaking a nursing course,” she added.
There are presently 24 institutes and 13 colleges to train nurses in the Kingdom, in addition to nursing departments at universities in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
However, Dr. Sabah advised that they all be closed down because they have proved themselves incapable of producing well-trained and properly qualified graduates.
“The graduates of these institutions work only as nursing assistants or technicians,” she explained.
“We have to work seriously to improve the quality of our nurses by establishing advanced educational institutions and by upgrading the nursing syllabus,” said Dr. Sabah.
