MADINAH: Doctors in the Kingdom no longer aspire to occupy leadership positions, following recent controversies affecting a number of their colleagues.

Doctors are also shying away from these positions for several other reasons, namely the absence of legal protections from abuse by patients and hospital visitors, the cancelation of allowances, and the lack of financial incentives.

Some have described the worsening situation by citing the decision of Ahmed Al-Dowelea to resume his post as Director of King Fahad Hospital in Dammam, despite his appointment as the Deputy Minister of Health.

Letters and official reports have revealed that some health departments have resorted to filling management positions with technicians who lack bachelor degrees, while a dentist was recently appointed as the Assistant Director of a hospital after a number of doctors turned down the post.

Sources say the reluctance of doctors to take on management responsibilities at hospitals and health departments are also due to the increasing number of decisions made against them, and the lack of adequate incentives or means of protecting their rights, as evidenced by the numerous discharges and attacks against doctors by patients.