Acute shortage of nurses in Saudi Arabia - Arab News

RIYADH, 14 March 2005 — The Kingdom hopes a new injection of 2,000 women nurses from Indonesia will remedy a chronic staff shortage that is plaguing Saudi hospitals, but officials say Saudization is the prescription that will provide the real cure.

Yes, but

The move is prompted by Saudi girls’ reluctance to enroll in nursing colleges or even consider nursing as a profession. The Kingdom’s hospitals need about 100,000 nurses and other paramedical staff, while there are only about 1,000 Saudi nurses. The acute shortages are addressed through foreign recruitment. Without a change in attitude by Saudis about the nursing profession, the prognosis won’t be good. Today, 90 percent of the nurses working in the country are non-Saudi, whereas more than 70 percent of the patients checking into the public and private-sector hospitals are Saudi nationals, creating an urgent need to Saudize this sector.

My emphasis.