RIYADH, 7 December 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will lay the foundation stone for a nursing college in Jeddah next week, according to Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, president of King Saud University for Health Sciences & chief executive officer of the National Guard Health Affairs.
Speaking at the inaugural session of an international nursing conference here yesterday, Dr. Al-Rabeah also said that King Abdullah would launch a similar project in Al-Ahsa sometime later.
He said the nursing profession was on the Kingdom’s health care priorities and the international event now under way in Riyadh was proof of that.
The three-day forum titled “Toward Advancement in Nursing” will discuss several issues pertaining to the development of nursing profession in Saudi Arabia. Many national and international experts are taking part.
Al-Rabeah acknowledged that the Kingdom was late in introducing educational and training programs for nurses and said more needs to be done to increase awareness about the profession.
Dr. Bothayna Murshid, associate dean for administrative affairs at the College of Nursing and Applied Medical Sciences (CNAMS) and chairperson of the conference organizing committee, said one of the main objectives of the forum was to share experiences and ideas with professionals in the field. She said CNAMS, established by a royal decree in March 2003, seeks to provide more educational and employment opportunities for Saudi nurses to address the shortage of qualified nurses in the Kingdom.
Dr. Murshid said nursing was a “national heritage and it was not strange to hold a conference of this magnitude” in the Saudi capital. “It is time for actions to change the negative perceptions in society about this noble profession,” she added.
Describing the significance of the profession, Dr. Murshid said women went to battlegrounds to nurse the wounded during the days of the Prophet (peace by upon him).
