JEDDAH, 17 November 2006 — Saudi nurses are facing huge problems as their families object to their working in hospitals, health care workers in Jeddah said. Some are prevented from leaving home and even sometimes forcibly locked up.

According to Raja Muhammad, the manageress of the Nursing Department at the Ministry of Health in Jeddah, 70 percent of Saudi nurses in the city are experiencing hostility from their families. Something, she says, which affects their job performance and negatively impacts health care in general.

Many citizens who favor non-Saudi nurses say that foreign nurses are much more punctual whereas Saudi nurses are rarely on time for work and are barely qualified to do the job they are assigned with. This they attribute to a decline in education in nursing colleges and institutions.

Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, who came to a clinic for his son’s treatment for burns, said, “This is my fourth visit here, only the non-Saudi nurses treat my son. Though there are Saudi nurses here but they are always busy preparing files.”

He added, “Saudi nurses are supposed to work as nurses and not as secretaries or receptionists. Expatriate nurses are the ones who gave my son full treatment.”

Some people believe that traditions and customs prevent Saudi nurses from treating men, even if the men are rather old. “They limit themselves to treating only women and children. I have seen a Saudi nurse refusing to treat men patients in the men’s section. She packs her bag and leaves before time because her family members have told her not to deal with men even if they are going to die,” said Muhammad Al-Harbi, a Saudi citizen.

Hana Saud, a Saudi teacher, complained that Saudi nurses are never on time and have a high degree of absenteeism. Hana said of a Saudi nurse who came an hour late while patients awaited her arrival. “When she arrived she began by putting on some makeup, then she chatted with her colleagues and telephoned friends. Then she began working, which wasn’t even satisfactory,” said Hana.

Some private hospitals also mention about the problem of punctuality among Saudi nurses, something which is not tolerated in private hospitals.

Dr. Ashraf Nasr, the head manager of a private dental hospital, said that Saudi nurses do not lack proficiency in work they do compared to non-Saudi nurses. Nasr, however, said that Saudi nurses lack punctuality.

“Though their salaries are double that of the non-Saudi nurses they still are not on time. We sympathize with our nurses, but we have to preserve the high quality of services in our hospital,” he said.

The Health Ministry is aiming at employing up to 70,000 Saudi nurses in five years from now. In public hospitals, 77 percent of working nurses are non-Saudis, in the private sector the percentage reaches somewhere near 98 percent.