JEDDAH, 22 September 2007 — Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie has decided not to renew contracts of foreign doctors who have completed 20 years of service, Al-Jazirah Arabic daily reported yesterday.
“The Health Ministry has banned foreign doctors who have completed more than 20 years service in the Kingdom from practicing the profession,” the paper said quoting the minister’s decision.
Heath departments in a city or region requiring the service of such doctors must get the permission of the assistant deputy minister for human resource development for the renewal of their contracts.
The new decision aims at creating job opportunities for qualified Saudi doctors. Many Saudi doctors have returned to the Kingdom after completing higher studies in foreign countries.
There are more than 43,000 doctors at private and public hospitals in the Kingdom and about 78 percent of them are expatriates.
The Ministry of Health runs nearly 200 hospitals in addition to over 2,000 primary health care centers. Plans are under way to transform government hospitals in the Kingdom into public corporations in order to operate them commercially and improve health services. The project, which has been finalized by the ministry, would cost SR10 billion.
“We have already presented the project to higher authorities for approval and it is currently being studied by the Higher Committee for Administrative Reorganization,” said Dr. Khaled Al-Mirghalani, spokesman for the Health Ministry.
Under the project, government hospitals would be separated from the ministry and brought under boards of directors, which would manage them commercially, applying modern operational methods. The project will cover all the 200 hospitals under the ministry’s control.
Mirghalani emphasized the ministry’s plan to bring about drastic changes in the primary health care system.
“There will be a doctor for every 2,000 to 3,000 people and he or she will visit every one of them at least four times a year,” he added.
