JEDDAH, 18 August 2007 — Saudi Arabia requires more than 100,000 pharmacy graduates to replace the foreign workers employed in hospitals and other establishments in both the private and government sectors, according to an expert in the field of pharmacy and medical education in the Kingdom.
“The number of Saudis working in pharmacology is less than five percent. The figure may be slightly higher in the government sector,” Shali Al-Jedani, chairman of the board of the Ibn Sina College of Medical Sciences in Jeddah said, according to the Saudi Press Agency yesterday.
Al-Jedani attributed the absence of Saudi pharmacists to the apparent negligence on the part of college students, including women, toward the pharmaceutical sciences and their unawareness of the growing importance of this branch of medical science in the social health services.
“We have plans to launch awareness campaigns about the importance of pharmacy education, particularly the clinical pharmacology, which provides more information on drugs and their side effects,” Al-Jedani said.
He called upon the secondary school graduates — boys and girls alike — to enroll for pharmacy specializations at Saudi universities and colleges in order to benefit from the abundant employment opportunities offered by the job market in the Kingdom. “Those who pass the degree will instantly be employed,” he said.
The expert in medical education also pointed out that the Kingdom was in need of specialized doctors in virtually all branches of medical sciences in enormous numbers both in the government and private sectors.
He added that the Ibn Sina College being the first private medical college in the country aimed to participate effectively in the advancement of medical sciences in the Kingdom. The college, which plans to send out its first batch of graduates in 2010, provides research facilities besides offering degrees in medicine, dentistry and pharmacy in line with the latest international developments in these fields. Its curriculum is designed and devised by King Abdullah Research and Consulting Institute in association with KSU in Riyadh. The college, which is promoted by Al-Jedani Group of Hospitals and located in Jeddah, has 40 faculty members and nine workshops.
