AlQa'dah 2, 1433, Sep 18, 2012, SPA - The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has given great attention to the health sector such as other sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through increasing the budget of the Ministry of Health by 12 percent in the fiscal year 1432/1433 AH. The King also issued his order in the year 1432 AH to allocate SR 16 billion to the Ministry of Health for the development of five medical cities consisting of specialized hospitals and centers for tumors, nerves, and complicated operations for cardiac diseases, radiation treatment, organ transplantation and ophthalmology and other rare specialties containing nearly 7,000 beds. The recent reports issued by the Ministry of Health showed that there are 420 hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an increase of 47 hospitals in comparison with the three previous years containing more than 60,000 beds; 66,000 doctors including 22.5 percent Saudis; 4,700 pharmacists in public sector including 2,685 Saudis; 10,349 pharmacists in private sector; 130,000 male and female nurses including 31.8 percent Saudis; and 75,000 workers in medical support including 66.7 percent Saudis.
