About 150 graduates of Health colleges and institutes demanded the Ministry of Health to solve a number of problems that are encountering them, mainly non availability of vacant posts that suit their fields of specialization.
The demand has been raised in the first meeting of employment organized by MOH at its Center of Training and Scholarships yesterday. The MOH Undersecretary Dr. Obeid Al-Obeid, who headed the meeting, said it is the responsibility of MOH to provide the best services to the nation through preparation of qualified and trained manpower and enrolling them in the different health sectors.
The meeting was attended by the MOH Assistant Undersecretary for Manpower Preparation and Development and General Supervisor of MOH Colleges and Institutes Dr. Khalid Al-Rashud. MOH Director General of Health Information Dr. Khalid M. Al-Marghalani steered the meeting.
Dr. Al-Obeid said MOH has reached a Saudization percentage of 99%. Only few expatriates are filling some posts due to non availability of specialized Saudis in certain fields. According to Dr. Al-Obeid all remaining nursing graduates have been appointed in the positions of health assistants and will be shifted to respective vacant posts in their fields gradually.
He said coordination has been made with the Ministry of Finance for covering the MOH requirements of employments. All directorates of health affairs have been informed to take actions for enrolling health graduates, he said.
He estimated the current available vacant posts by 2000, whereas the number of graduates is 3000, denoting that MOH is intending to create additional posts in its budget for the coming year.
He said MOH has sent 200 posts of "Medical Register Technicians" to the Ministry of Civil Service to be filled by Saudis.
On his part, Dr. Khalid Al-Rashud said MOH carries out on job training for Saudi manpower for appointing them on jobs filled by expatriates. He said the graduates will be trained in coordination with government hospitals, referring that all government hospitals have training and scholarship programs.