JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — The Health Ministry has decided to implement new hours for hospital and health center staff. The change is applicable to both male and female employees but it has made more of a problem for females, many of whom strongly opposed the decision.
Research conducted outside the cities indicate that most employees prefer the old shifts. The new hours have created problems for Saudi women nurses because they have to spend most of the day at work which leaves little or no time to take care of their homes.
Before the change, Saudi female nurses worked 44 hours per week. They worked in either 12-hour shifts, resulting in a four-day work week, or in eight-hour shifts, which gave them only one day off each week.
The eight-hour shift divides the day into three periods. The first shift begins at 7:00 a.m., the second at 3:00 p.m. and the last at 11:00 p.m. The eight-hour night shift was rarely applied since many Saudi nurses refused to work from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. For this reason, other nurses had to work 12-hour shifts.
The new work hours, 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., aims to give Saudi nurses the chance to spend more time with their families but many of them complain that the new shift is still too long. They find it difficult to juggle work with family time and socializing. To do housework and socialize after an exhausting 10 hours of work is difficult. Some employees have even been forced to choose between work and family.
Haya Mazen, a lab technician, said: “My friends and I decided to write a letter of complaint to the ministry asking them to solve the problem they had created with this new decision. My husband threatened to divorce me because I do not spend time at home or take care of my children as I used to do.”
Abdul Muhsin Saeed, a male nurse in a health center, explained that afternoons are important since many families meet for lunch. “There is no time for family anymore. I am very tired when I get home after 10 hours of work and there is no time to attend to family obligations.”
Female nurses who are taking care of their parents are affected in similar ways. Mona Yehya says: “I am struggling with taking care of my father at home. It will be even more difficult after a 10-hour shift. I thought of hiring a maid to take care of my father but I cannot afford to hire one on my salary.”
Layla Ahmad, a nurse, fears that her work is preventing her from getting married. “When someone proposes to my family, he asks whether I work or not. When they learn that I am a nurse and hear about my working hours, they withdraw and look for a bride who has more time at home. One suitor actually asked me to stop working and stay at home but I refused. The suitors do not understand my situation but sometimes I think they are right. I doubt that I will find a husband who understands that I have to work more than 10 hours away from home.”
Dr. Khaled Mirghalani, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the new work shift will be implemented initially for six months on a trial baiss. “If the ministry receives complaints from staff, it would not hesitate to revise the decision,” he told Al-Hayat daily.
