JEDDAH, 13 September 2006 — After an eight-month dispute between medical interns and the administration at King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU), a Jeddah judge has delivered a ruling stating that the KAAU was wrong in making premature deductions in the allowances of the interns.
The interns are now set to be compensated SR17 million in money they were denied.
Presiding over the case Sheikh Obaid Al-Obaid announced his verdict at the Court of Grievances on Monday. He gave the university 15 days to appeal the ruling but according to the interns it is highly unlikely to do so because many cases of nonpayment had recently been filed against the administration there.
According to interns security guards working at the KAAU have recently won a case against the university after not being paid overtime.
After hearing the verdict, the interns expressed their thanks to Sheikh Al-Obaid. They said, “There is a serious problem of mismanagement at KAAU but we are glad we finally got what we deserved and were due.”
Fahd Abduljabbar, 25, an orthopedic doctor at the King Fahd National Guard Hospital and one of the plaintiffs, said, “As much as the case took time, we can now be entitled to ask for compensation for every month our allowances were delayed.”
Speaking to Arab News some of the interns explained that they were reluctant to take their case to court but finally had to seeing no other feasible option.
“We never thought it would go this far, we were hoping it would be solved within the university,” said Abdulhameed Al-Sabban, 25, who is presently working at the National Guard Hospital.
“We have been through the most difficult times of our lives during this internship and we even missed our graduation party. Some doctors blamed us for asking for our rights but now it feels good that we’ve made it. We got what deserved,” said Abduljabbar.
He said interns from other Saudi universities who had been helping their KAAU counterparts with documents to prove that they were getting their complete payments had been congratulating them through phone calls.
The controversy began when the Ministry of Higher Education sent an official letter to all Saudi universities explaining that there would a 44 percent deduction in the allowances of medical interns. The letter stated that interns who enroll after September 2005 would see the deductions.
Medical and dentistry interns across the Kingdom were receiving SR10,700 in monthly allowance while KAAU interns were only getting SR6,000 starting from their second month of their internship. Technology and nursing interns at KAAU were getting SR2,500 while their counterparts at other universities were getting SR5,400.
The interns also explained how they were the last to receive their graduation certificates and that by that time most of the job vacancies in the Kingdom had been filled with graduates from other universities who could apply earlier.
Aous Bait-Almal, 27, a medical technologist, said, “This made a big difference on our future plans. One of my friends delayed his marriage, another requested an allowance from a charity organization to study abroad, and another had to work while doing the internship to provide for his family. ”
“Getting trained during the internship was supposed to be great because by the time we would be ready for work we would have gained some experience, but unfortunately we missed the thrill because SR2,500 was not enough,” said nurse Batool Habbab, 26.
Her colleague May Iskandarani, 24, nodded her consent.
Khalid Arab, 24, one of the interns from Riyadh whose allowance was deducted after the date stated by the Ministry of Higher Education, said, “Unfortunately here we are getting paid less than any other scientific practitioner compared to the number of effective working hours we put in. In addition we are asked to attend many medical conferences,” he said.
The interns say they pursued various means of coming to an amicable settlement with the university administration but to no avail. Their struggle with the authorities and in courts even became the butt of joke for some newspaper caricaturists.
In order to lobby support for their cause, the interns sought the help of TV channels and appeared twice on talk shows such as the programs Hiwar Min Al-Dakhil (Dialogue From Within) on ART Al-Ein Channel and “Shabab x Shabab” (Youth vs. Youth) on Saudi Television.
“We wanted this step to be marked, because if we didn’t take this further then it wouldn’t have been fair on ourselves and nor on the generations that will come after us. It is simply our right,” concluded Bait-Almal.
