JEDDAH, 22 May 2006 — After failed attempts to solve their problem with the dean of King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah medical interns protested at the court of grievances. Despite the fact that yesterday was the day on which they expected a ruling, none was made.
What did happen was a change of judges and the KAAU lawyer’s failing to present any additional evidence or information. He did, however, present a letter that implied that the interns are complaining for no reason against the officials at the Ministry of Higher Education. Another hearing has been rescheduled on June 18.
The interns’ problems center on a 44 percent reduction in their monthly allowances. Interns at other Saudi medical colleges have had no such reduction and the Jeddah group feels unfairly treated in comparison to their counterparts at other colleges.
With only two months before graduation, the university still has not paid the interns their entitlements. “Our protest has to do with an earlier decision to reduce our allowances. The university has responded in a very uncooperative and unhelpful way,” one of the interns explained.
According to an official source, the Kingdom’s seven universities which have medical colleges — excluding KAAU — have not yet applied the ministry’s ruling regarding the reduction in interns’ allowances. The universities are Umm Al-Qura, King Saud, King Faisal, King Khaled, Al-Qaseem, Taibah and Taif.
In an attempt to solve their problem, the interns traveled to Riyadh to ask for help from Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari. They were unable to see him personally but they left detailed documents with his office staff for which they were given a receipt.
They plan to follow up the visit. The interns also sought TV time to explain their problem and how it has been dealt with.
On Saturday night, the Saudi channel featured four of them on the program “Shabab x Shabab” (Youth x Youth). Unfortunately, they were not allowed to explain the problem fully and expressed disappointment at being thwarted.
