The Ministry of Health on Monday announced its plan to recruit 3,000 doctors from different countries to strengthen the Kingdom’s primary health care system and meet the needs of new hospitals and health centers.
Informed sources said the ministry has already selected 1,000 doctors from Pakistan, including specialists and consultants, to work at hospitals in various parts of the Kingdom.
“Among the selected men doctors, about 20 percent are consultants while 90 percent of women doctors are specialized in maternity,” one source said. The Pakistani doctors will arrive within a few weeks.
The source also disclosed plans to recruit Pakistani cardiologists and nephrologists.
A Saudi Health Ministry delegation has already completed the first phase of recruitment from Pakistan.
Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said his ministry was facing shortage of doctors in seven specializations.
The vacancies announced by the ministry included cardiologists, neurologists, oncologists, ophthalmologists, plastic surgeons, rheumatologists, dentists, pediatricians, psychologists, internists, ENT specialists and gynecologists, among others.
Al-Rabeeah denied suggestions that the ministry had difficulty in employing Saudi doctors. He said the ministry wanted doctors specialized in family and community medicine, intensive care, emergency medicine and anesthesia.
He urged students in Saudi medical colleges to focus on these specializations as the country’s hospitals currently require them.
The King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program has allocated 2,500 scholarships for Health Ministry doctors to pursue higher studies in reputable international universities and colleges.
Arab News