RIYADH: Senior officials from the Ministries of Education and Health, including the respective ministers, reviewed the progress they have made in offering 20,000 scholarships for medical students to study abroad.

The meeting held on Tuesday was a follow-up to the agreement signed between Education Minister Azzam Al-Dakhil and Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih at King Khalid University recently.

Besides scholarships, the meeting also discussed matters of common interest such as delivery of health care services in hospitals and centers of the Ministry of Education, and the planning and construction of the workforce, in addition to the difficulties and challenges faced by health colleges for women in the field of clinical training in hospitals.

The 20,000 scholarships program was part of the third phase of the “Your Job and Your Scholarship” initiative, which is also part of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques Foreign Scholarship Program. Students will be recruited after graduation in the health sector.

The scholarships for the specialization include undergraduate programs, general nursing, respiratory health care, speech pathology, occupational therapy, prosthetics, foot care, cardiac ischemia, ambulance and emergencies, clinical nutrition, clinical pharmacy, nuclear therapy and radiation protection.

The undergraduate diploma provides specializations in adult intensive care, child intensive care nursing, theater medical operations and emergency medicine.

The specializations provided by the master’s degrees include disaster management, biomedical engineering, clinical psychology, ambulance and emergencies, clinical nutrition, physical therapy, occupational health, international health, nuclear and occupational therapy, health informatics, speech and communication, patient safety, medical sciences, critical care nursing, emergency, nursing and infection control.

Associate degrees, also provided by the scholarships, include specializations such as clinical pharmacy, intensive care medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.

The doctoral degree will also cover scholarships for specializations of occupational therapy and clinical nutrition.

According to Al-Dakhil, the deal provides many and various opportunities for scholarships and recruitment for the youth of all regions and provinces of the Kingdom.

Al-Falih said that this agreement affirms the ministry’s keenness and interest in qualifying national health cadres and to activate the concept of community partnerships among all community institutions, adding that the ministry welcomes any initiatives or programs aiming at developing the quality of health services.

He indicated that the ministry is adamant at upgrading its facilities and to provide them with necessary qualified manpower in a manner which contributes to improving health services and reaping the maximum benefit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Foreign Scholarship Program.

In line with this agreement, the Ministry of Health will participate in the selection of candidates based on professional regulations relevant to their specialties so as to prepare the final list of candidates and then oversee their academic performance.