The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced acceptance of 446 trainees in the Saudi Board of Family Medicine for the year 2019, bringing the total to 1,718 trainees until the beginning of October. MOH has offered additional training seats for medical graduates in the specialty of family medicine, while maintaining the quality standards and accreditation by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS). It pointed out that such developmental steps come in line with the National Transformation Program 2020 and as an endeavor towards achieving the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030, through developing the human capital in the specialty of family medicine as well as primary care physicians.
According to MOH, 217 physicians (male and female) will be graduated this year after increasing the fellowship programs form 3 programs in the main cities in 2006 to 18 programs in most of the Kingdom's cities in 2017. Also, a program was launched in Najran, Qurayyat and Kharj, bringing the total to 21 programs this year. Besides, 159 training centers for graduate studies in family medicine have been accredited by the SCHS, in addition to accreditation of 4 family medicine academies in the regions of Riyadh, Eastern and Qassim; thus increasing the number of doctors in the fellowship program.
Regarding the On-the-job training, MOH has trained more than 5,000 doctors at its healthcare centers on the latest developments in the medical technologies.