Bangladeshi Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mohammad Nasim, held talks with Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah to hire more Bangladeshi doctors at hospitals across the Kingdom.

The Financial Express, a Bangladeshi newspaper, confirmed that Saudi Arabia has employed more Bengali doctors and nursing staff in the framework of an agreement signed by the two countries for closer cooperation.

The newspaper report said that the health ministers held a bilateral meeting on Sunday in Riyadh, where they discussed some of the proposals jointly drafted by the two countries. The two ministers also agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding soon. The agreement comes following the halt to hiring Bangladeshi expats after a Saudi diplomat was killed in Bangladesh.

Saudi Arabia has the highest number of Bangladeshi expatriates in the world. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world but has many medical graduates because acceptance to medical school in the Asian country is not contingent on high scores.

Saudi doctors, on the other hand, do not account for more than 30 percent of physicians in the Kingdom since requirements for gaining acceptance at the Kingdom’s medical schools are much more strenuous.