More than 90 percent of medical graduates at King Abdulaziz University claim that they were abused in some way during their training, according to a study conducted by academics.
In the study published in the local media, the graduates claimed that they were subjected to verbal, physical, sexual, racial and religious discrimination.
The study was carried out by three academics between September 2013 and January 2014 among medical graduates of the Jeddah-based university. It was primarily aimed at determining the perceived level of abuse, and barriers to reporting it.
Based on accounts provided by 186 students through questionnaires, 169 or 90.9 percent, claimed they were abused in some way during training.
A total of 86.6 percent said they were subjected to verbal abuse, 73.1 percent to academic abuse, 38.7 percent to sex discrimination, 29 percent to racial or ethnic discrimination, 18.8 percent to physical abuse, 15.1 percent to religious discrimination, and 8.6 percent to sexual harassment.
The students claimed that the perpetrators were mainly professors, followed by associate professors, demonstrators or assistant teaching staff, and assistant professors, according to the report.
90 percent of KAU graduates allege widespread abuse
