JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia urgently requires at least 10,000 doctors and 20,000 nurses by the end of this year to run its public hospitals and health centers, according to a report issued by the Ministry of Economy and Planning. “The centralized system often fails to take appropriate decisions at the right time,” the ministry was quoted as saying by Arab News. It also urged the Health Ministry to review these systems immediately. The Ministry of Economy and Planning also stressed the need for 2,958 new health centers in various parts of the Kingdom, including 685 in the Riyadh region, 620 in the Makkah region and 43 in the Northern Border Province, the report said. “The government’s target is to establish one health center per 7,000 people in each area,” the report said, adding that the new centers would be distributed according to the requirements of each region in the country. Meanwhile, the Shoura Council’s health affairs committee has criticized the Health Ministry for poor health services. “There is a shortage of health services while citizens find it difficult to access these services,” it reportedly said. A committee member, who requested anonymity, said the Shoura would call for increasing budget allocations for the health sector to meet the growing health requirements of citizens, including ICU services and medicines, reported the Saudi Arabia-based English newspaper. source
