RIYADH, 5 March 2007 — The Saudi Health Administration, a branch of the Ministry of Health, has recently uncovered that 542 of its employees were practicing medicine and performing paramedical tasks.
The employees had fake educational and experience certificates, the Okaz daily reported yesterday.
This brings the total to 7,216 individuals in the Kingdom who have been prevented from practicing medicine or a related profession.
Saudis comprised 10 percent of the unqualified employees and most were from East Asian countries. All of the accused face legal action.
There has been an alarming number of reports of deaths caused by medical malpractice in the local press. From 1997 to 2000, a total of 218 people, mostly women, died as a result of medical malpractice.
To help combat the problem, in Dec. 2005 the government made medical malpractice insurance mandatory.
The National Company for Cooperative Insurance (NCCI), the biggest insurance company in the Kingdom, launched seven categories of medical malpractice insurance policies for the Kingdom’s medical and para-medical professions from both the public and private sectors.
