His Excellency the MOH Assistant Undersecretary for Manpower Preparation and Development, Dr. Ali Al-Qahtani, has announced that the Ministry employs non-Saudis only in a limited scale and rare medical specialties. The Ministry submits its requirements of health occupations to the Ministry of Civil Service (MSC). In case staffing such vacancies with Saudis is unavailable, MSC resubmits such requirements to MOH so as to be staffed from abroad, in accordance with the standards and regulations in operation. He affirmed that such occupations, staffed by non-Saudis, are considered vacancies for Saudis; in the sense that Saudi applicants, once available and qualified, take the place of non-Saudis, as stated in the applied administrative regulation.
As for what was claimed with regard to the Ministry's intention to employ a number of non-Saudis in health occupations, the Ministry has demanded the employment of 3.598 BA and MA holders in rare medical specialties, such as: speech pathologist specialist, hearing pathologist specialist, CT scan specialist, anesthetist, nuclear therapy specialist, professional rehabilitation specialist, etc. This was approved by MSC, inasmuch as it was difficult to incumbent these occupations with Saudis. This matter was well studied and discussed by the two ministries, in accordance with the specific rules and regulations of non-Saudi employment.
“In coordination with MSC,” Dr. Al-Qahtani said, “MOH is going to accept any Saudi applicant holding the required scientific qualification, even without experience, which could be acquired through professional work in the Ministry.” He went on to explain that most of these occupations to be staffed by foreigners are of the job title: specialist, and require a number of conditions to be met, including 4-year experience after graduation, and 2-year experience after postgraduate studies. These occupations, he concluded, are not confined to one country, but include several countries, including Philippines, Pakistan, Jordan, India and Sudan.