Foto

Increasing unemployment among Saudi doctors

Increasing unemployment among Saudi doctors January 31, 2019 at 2:01 am | Published in: Middle East , News , Saudi Arabia Saudi medical staff leave the emergency department at a hospital in the center of the Saudi capital Riyadh on April 8, 2014 [Fayez Nuredine / AFP] January 31, 2019 at 2:01 am Nearly 1,000 Saudi dentists are currently unemployed, Saudi health minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah announced yesterday.

Speaking at the 20th graduation ceremony of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialities (SCFHS), Al-Rabiah said that there were around 10,000 foreign doctors registered in the country’s health sector.

He pointed out that the SCFHS recent reports showed over 5,000 Saudi dentists were classified “general dentists.” He added that there were more than 3,000 specialised doctors in the kingdom, 2,000 of whom were foreigners.

“About 951 general dentists are unemployed, while only 9 specialised others are unemployed,” Al-Rabiah noted.

Read: Rights Group: Saudi Arabia releases ten Ritz-Carlton businessmen

The Saudi minister pledged to “eliminate” the unemployment among the Saudi dentists.

In mid-December, the Saudi authorities “nationalised” 41 professions in the fields of hospitality, tourism and non-profit organisations, restricting them to the Saudi nationals. During the same month, the government imposed new fees on expatriate workers, a move that was criticised by most of the employers.

Saudi Arabia aims to reduce the unemployment rate to nine per cent by 2020, and to seven per cent by 2023 as part of a state-led nation-wide economic reform programme.

According to the General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI), the number of foreign employees in Saudi Arabia fell to 7.91 million at the end of 2017, compared with 8.49 million at the end of 2016. Meanwhile, the number of Saudi employees increased by 1.78 million by the end of 2017 compared to 1.68 million in 2016.

Categories Middle East News Saudi Arabia