Saudi Arabia: Nursing No Longer Shunned

Wednesday, 21 February 2007

DAMMAM: Saudi Women can respectably choose to follow a career in nursing now that the profession has been accepted; bringing hope the Kingdom will soon have a strong Saudi workforce in the healthcare arena.

"The idea for Saudi females to pursue a nursing career and enroll in schools and academies to get a diploma, is no longer shunned and rejected by our society," said Abdulaziz Al-Zuwayed, Eastern Province regional manager of the International Academy for Health Sciences. "Nursing as a career for our young Saudis, particularly our girls, has taken hold."

Al-Zuwayed said the popularity and growth of nursing also indicates a changing perception of the role and status of Saudi women.

He added the upcoming band of young trained Saudis in healthcare, is an indication that the Kingdom's medical manpower will soon be nationalized.

The International Academy for Health Sciences is one of the educational institutions that are participating in the Third International Saudi Medical Exhibition currently being held at the Dhahran International Exhibition Center. The school offers nursing and other health science specializations in its 34 branches all over the Kingdom.

"Just to show you the increasing popularity of nursing among Saudi girls, ten of our 34 branches are exclusively for women. Our branches in Dammam and Al-Ahsa have an enrollment of about 400 and 250, respectively, many of them women," Al-Zuwayed said.

The academy's regional manager said the Kingdom's educational system is strongly encouraging the establishment of more schools that offer nursing as well as allied medical specializations in pharmacy, medical technology, dentistry, x-ray technology, and medical management.

"Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz even offered to shoulder 90 percent of nursing education costs to our academy's girl students," Al-Zuwayed said. "Our country's leaders are indeed convinced of Saudi women's potential in the medical profession, particularly in the nursing service."

The Kingdom still faces a shortage of nurses in the government and private health sector. Al-Zuwayed said this is now being addressed by encouraging more young Saudis to take up a career in nursing.

The Ministry of Health has an official record showing since 2005, the number of nursing staff, male and female, in all health institutions in the Kingdom is 78,600. Within the figure, 52.6 percent were employed by the Ministry of Health, 24.7 percent by other government hospitals and medical centers, and 22.7 percent by the private health sector.

Allied health technicians, including pharmacists made up 49,200, and 46.7 percent of those were employed under the Ministry of Health, 28.2 percent by other government hospitals and medical centers, and 25.1 percent by the private health sector.

The demand for better healthcare has put pressure on Saudi health sector to turn out better trained and educated local manpower.

While health facilities are improving, the need for proficient local human resources is now a top priority, according to Dr. Nabil Kurashi, head of training at the department of family and community medicine at King Faisal University College of Medicine in Dammam.

The Ministry of Health's official statistics placed the total number of hospitals in the Kingdom at 364. The Ministry of Health manages 213 of those, 38 are under other government health centers, and 113 are managed by the private sector.

Nursing students' training and internship programs are also being upgraded. While most of the healthcare academies offer only diplomas, universities with teaching hospitals, like King Faisal University (KFU) in Dammam, bestow graduates with a baccalaureate degree in nursing.

The KFU Teaching Hospital has taught many graduates who are employed in government hospitals.

The teaching hospital continues to encourage more female high school graduates to take up nursing.

By Joe Avancena