The Ministry of Health has ordered hospitals and polyclinics not to issue sick leave to any government employee unless it is proved that they deserve it. The ministry ordered all hospitals to hang signs for patients saying no sick-leave forms will be given except for serious cases.

A source told Okaz newspaper that this procedure had to be resorted to to stop employees who had been assigned to work during Eid from circumventing their assignments by pretending to be sick.

Abdul Aziz, a medical intern student, said that before this new regulation, some doctors at public hospitals were "selling leave to employees." Now the process had become more complicated, he said. The administration where he works now asked for a full report on him. This procedure blocked the way for many deceivers, especially when they didn’t have patient files from the hospital where they brought their leave forms from.

Doctors at public hospitals receive plenty of requests from friends and friends of friends to be helped out by getting signed sick leave forms, especially at this time of year, said a pharmacist at King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Jeddah.

The pharmacist, who requested anonymity, said the situation prior to the new regulation was “a mess … anyone could get a sick leave.”