RIYADH, 24 June 2007 — A conflict between Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Health regulations has created a situation in which the private sector stands to lose millions of riyals because of manpower shortages resulting from restrictions on the issuing of visas. Though the problem is primarily within the private sector, Minister of Health Hamad Al-Manie announced yesterday that 91 hospitals would be built in the Kingdom by the end of this year. “The construction and operation of the hospitals will be according to the timetable set by the Ministry of Finance,” he said. “The majority will be operational within the year.”
Enquiries with several polyclinics revealed that though they have expanded their facilities in response to the government’s mandatory health insurance scheme, visa restrictions imposed by the Health Ministry have put many projects on hold.
Speaking to Arab News from Jeddah, Saudi lawyer Muhammad Jaber Nader said that even though the new labor regulation stipulates a one-year waiting period before a doctor or dentist can return to the Kingdom, the Ministry of Health requires two years in accordance with a circular from the Ministry of Interior to the Health Ministry. Nader said the restriction normally applied to jobs that are considered sensitive and he wondered what information a doctor would leak if he wished to move from the government to the private sector.
The problem with the government’s visa policy came to light last week when a delegation from the Ministry of Health visited Cochin in the Indian state of Kerala. The delegation said clearly that if a candidate had worked previously for the Ministry of Health, he or she could not return to the Kingdom for two years.
Syed Zia-ur-Rahman, an employee in a private medical center, said there is an acute shortage of medical personnel in the Kingdom and this has been further compounded by the government’s restrictions on the issuing of visas. To compound the problem, he said, Saudi doctors are unwilling to work in low-paying two-shift jobs in polyclinics.
These visa restrictions seem to contradict the government’s policy of encouraging greater private sector participation in the health sector. Official statistics show that between 1999 and 2005, the government saw a 7.2 percent annual growth in its health care budget. The Kingdom spent $13 billion on health care in 2005, and this spending is expected to surge to over $20 billion by 2016.
Private sector spending on health care in Saudi Arabia accounts for 25 percent of the total. Increased private sector participation in health care is regarded as essential to realizing the Kingdom’s objective to boost the efficiency of its health care system while reducing the burden on the government.
Present plans call for a transition of the Kingdom to a mixed health care system, in which government participation is limited largely to health care coverage of the poor and military, with a variety of private health care options available to others. In addition to doctors and dentists, more health care personnel will need to be recruited under the family and community health care program in which the target is to recruit enough doctors to bring the doctor-patient ratio down from the current level of 1:4,000 to 1:400 within a decade.
Referring to the hospital expansion program, Al-Manie said that the most stringent global health standards would be applied to these hospitals. He pointed out that providing the required employees to staff these hospitals would be one of the challenges his ministry would face. Another challenge is Saudization and developing local manpower skills in the health sector. Speaking about the ministry’s strategy for the next few years, Al-Manie said that spreading greater awareness about disease and providing quality health services were at the top of the list.
