Middle East > Saudi Arabia > Saudi Arabia urgently needs 30,000 medical staff

Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia urgently needs 30,000 medical staff

2014/11/19

Saudi Arabia needs additional than 30,000 medical staff imminently, the government has warned in a new statement published by the Ministry of Economy and Planning.

At least 10,000 doctors and 20,000 nurses are needed by the end of the year, while the country as well is short nearly 3,000 primary healthcare centres, the statement says, according to Makkah Daily.

The kingdom’s healthcare has been scrutinised in the completed year amid an outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which started in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has killed additional than 700 people, mostly in the kingdom.

Before this year, the health minister was sacked next a Jeddah hospital was forced to shut down its emergency room next nurses became infected with the potentially fatal virus, leading to at least one virologist claiming the kingdom was not dealing with the virus entirely.

The kingdom as well is dealing with the potential spread of Ebola part its thousands of African expatriates, inclunding an old healthcare system.

The ministry statement as well criticises the kingdom’s centralised healthcare sector, which it says means critical decisions are made too slowly.

It calls for individual healthcare centres and hospitals to be given better powers, particularly in emergency situations.

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