Dr. Abd Al-Ilah Al-Hawsawi, Last week, Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper published in its issue No. (7901) an article entitled: "Seizing 3, 000 doctors, nurses and pharmacists working with forged certificates." The increase in fraud in health practitioners'' certificates is just one of the symptoms of a persistent problem in the Saudi health sector: the massive shortage (in quantity and quality) in human resources.
Here are some numbers: Based on Ministry of Health statistics for the year 2013
There are about 80, 000 doctors in the Kingdom at a rate of 26 per ''10, 000'' people (the percentage of Saudis among them does not exceed 22%).
There are about 150, 000 nurses in the Kingdom at a rate of 50 per ''10, 000'' people (the percentage of Saudis among them does not exceed 35%).
As for Allied Health Professionals, the scale of the problem is (unfortunately) greater.
The health sector in the Kingdom suffers from a significant shortage of human resources in various groups: whether they are doctors, nurses, technicians and health technicians.
If we add to this the expected significant increase in the rate of various common diseases that afflict Saudis, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, or strokes and car accidents (may God protect us from all of them) in the coming years, we find that the demand and the need will be much greater than the supply (whether it is from the inside or Health practitioners contracted with them from outside the Kingdom!).
Based on all of what I mentioned above, it is very important that we work to develop practical solutions to confront this big problem, and the solutions are summarized in three strategies:
Quantum Solutions Strategy: by continuing to work to increase the provision of the health sector with qualified health practitioners from inside (universities, colleges and health institutes) and abroad (by intensifying qualitative contracting from abroad). Likewise, it is very necessary to exclude the health sector from the Ministry of Labor''s domain system, at least in the next ten to twenty years stage, because it is impossible to cover the deficit in human resources from only Saudis in the current period! And it might be useful to exclude distinguished health practitioners (Saudis or Non-Saudis) who quit work upon reaching retirement age, especially if they have proven their efficiency and productivity!
Quality solutions strategy: by increasing the training programs for health practitioners currently in the health sector and linking the renewal of their licenses to practice the profession with the outputs they provide to patients. Likewise, motivating health practitioners (morally and financially) to cover sparsely populated areas, villages, and desertion in the Kingdom, at times when they are not busy in their workplace.
The strategy of increasing effectiveness: It depends on allowing health practitioners to practice the profession in various health sectors, which helps in serving patients, reducing waiting lists and increasing the effectiveness of the health system in general.
We will not be able to achieve these solutions, especially the third solution, in an effective manner, if the health sector is not restructured under the umbrella of the Saudi Health Council and transformed into an executive council with generous care. One of its first tasks is to develop the Kingdom''s national health strategy that is in line with the challenges facing The health sector in the next two decades, especially with regard to the problem of lack of qualified human resources and its impact on patient safety.
