RIYADH, 29 November 2005 — A proposal to hire 1,000 Pakistani doctors, mainly specialists and consultants, has been made by the Kingdom. The proposal, which was made during the visit of a Saudi health delegation to Pakistan recently, also calls for the immediate recruitment 150 Pakistani doctors for the forthcoming Haj season, said Pakistani Ambassador Abdul Aziz Mirza, here yesterday.
“The Pakistani government might pull out some doctors from its government hospitals to deploy them on assignment-basis in Saudi Arabia,” Mirza said at a medical symposium here. The diplomat added that the doctors, on completion of their assignments in the Kingdom, would get their jobs back on their return to Pakistan.
The symposium, sponsored by AstraZeneca for the Pakistani Doctors Group (PDG), was attended by Dr. Abdullah S. Al-Amro, CEO of King Fahd Medical City, who was the chief guest. Dr. Faisal Sanai of Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital and Dr. Mubashar S. Kharal of King Fahd National Guard Hospital, were the keynote speakers. Dr. Riad J. Khawaja, general secretary of PDG, outlined the activities of the PDG, while Dr. Abdul Haleem, PDG president, made the closing remarks.
Dr. Al-Amro reiterated the contributions of Pakistani doctors to the health sector of the Kingdom. He also spoke about the 1,095-bed King Fahd Medical City, whose four hospitals have now become operational.
In his presentation on Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (“GERD”), Dr. Sanai said that the most frequent symptoms of GERD are so common that they may not be associated with a disease.
