Many expatriate nurses, mostly Filipinos at government hospitals in the Kingdom, say they are aware of the instability of their jobs after their contract expires due to Saudization of jobs.
More than 50 percent of these nurses claim that they are being replaced by Saudi nursing students, subsequent to the Kingdom’s Nitaqat program.
According to the Nitaqat program, all companies are required to increase the percentage of Saudi staff, the exact percentage depending on the sector. Hospitals have an abundant number of foreign employees who may face job loss due to the Saudization of the labor market.
“After we complete 20 years working for the hospital, we suddenly receive a call from the management asking us not to attend work the next day, and our working period at the hospital is over. This happens most of the time without any prior notice,” says a Filipino nurse who wishes to remain anonymous and who has been working at a government hospital. She goes on to say that these young Saudi nursing students need to go a long way and be trained in order to be professionals.
Talking to people regarding the issue, Arab News learned that the majority, which includes Saudis, prefer being treated by a foreign nurse to a Saudi one.
“I would choose to have a foreign nurse taking care of me,” said Maya Al-Kattan, a 39-year-old Saudi mother. “It’s funny that it is coming from a Saudi, but I am only giving my honest opinion. Most Saudi nurses are not professionals, and we see a lot of these young graduates replacing the foreign nurses nowadays,” finished Al-Kattan.
Most hospitals are desperately short-staffed and despite this, they still find it necessary to terminate the services of these Filipino nurses after the completion of their contract period. Several nurses who fall victim to these cases question why such a decision has to be taken when there is an obvious dearth of experienced Saudi nurses to replace them.
“This is not about having Saudi nurses compete with expatriate nurses. This is about having experience in the certain field of work. Saudis are hired without having any experience in the medical field. They sure are educated and hold masters in the subject, but so do we. Plus, since it is the young group of people, most of them seem to hang out more at the cafeteria and idly spend their working hours not attending to the patients or their duties. Terminating our services without any prior notice is not something that would satisfy any of us,” complains Norie Legore, who is in her early 30s and just received the “termination phone call” from the management of a government hospital where she was working for about 15 years.
Legore criticizes the unexpected adjustment of the management, saying, “We should be given an early warning and some time to look for another sponsor who is willing to hire us and provide us with sponsorship.”
Filipino nurses nervous about jobs
