The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS) discovered 2,714 forged certificates for health care practitioners in the last 10 years, according to the SCHS.
The report said the forged certificates included physicians, pharmacists, nurses, technicians of sterilization, operation rooms, anesthesia, labs, X-ray and optics.
According to the SCHS report, 663 forged certificates were discovered in the public sector heath faciliti4es, 383 in the nursing field and more than 150 in anesthesia, sterilization and labs.
The number of fake medical certificates in the private sector health stood at 2,051 of which 1,048 were in nursing, 370 in pharmacy, 60 general physicians, and more than 300 in anesthesia, sterilization and labs.
The accreditation and registration department at the SCHS categorized and registered more than 119 practitioners of different health care fields, renewed registration of more than 51,500 practitioners including 12,044 physicians, 5,000 pharmacists and more than 34,000 technicians of different applied medical professions, the report said.
The SCHS recently renewed its contract with an international company specialized in detecting forged certificates. The step is aimed to reduce and prevent the large number of fake certificates used by health care practitioners seeking to work in the Kingdom.
In line with these efforts, the SCHS recently issued a decision obliging all health practitioners in the Kingdom to provide original documented proof of their qualifications from the countries that issued their certificates.
According to the contract signed with the SCHS, the company specialized in identifying counterfeit certificates will check the authenticity of the health care practitioners’ qualifications directly from the country that issued the certificate.
This will be facilitated through the company’s electronic correspondence system with the accreditation and registration department of the commission.
SCHS uncovers 2,714 fake medical certificates
