RIYADH, 26 February — The King Khaled University Hospital here is encountering problems in utilizing most of its high-tech equipment due to non-availability of qualified technical staff, according to Dr. Musaed Al-Salman, undersecretary at the Faculty of Medicine for hospital affairs.
Speaking to Arab News, Al-Salman said the hospital had acquired the new medical equipment at a total cost of SR160 million as part of a modernization program. “We have installed a number of advanced equipment in the first-aid section, the intensive care unit, operation theaters, the X-ray section and the laboratory.”
But, he said, the hospital was unable to benefit from these machines due to the acute shortage of qualified technical hands. “We had recruited some foreign workers but they left the hospital when offered better conditions by private hospitals,” Al-Salman pointed out.
According to the wage scale of the university hospital, the technicians could not be paid more than SR5,000. But some private hospitals offer up to SR15,000 in monthly salary besides other perks to the technicians. He said the hospital was badly in need of high-tech instrument operators with basic knowledge of advanced medical equipment. “We are ready to provide them with the necessary training,” he added.
Al-Salman said the hospital had been searching for qualified technicians within and outside the Kingdom. “But our efforts were in vain,” he said.
