Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The Ministry of Health has instructed hospitals and medical cities in all regions to stop dealing with pharmaceutical and medical supply companies that have failed to achieve the Saudization quota fixed by the Ministry of Labor. The ministry resorted to this condition to ensure the employment of Saudi citizens of all genders who hold health diplomas. Statistics from the ministry indicate that there are 8000 unemployed health diploma holders, most of whom are registered under the Hafiz Program, which provides a monthly stipend of SR2,000 to each unemployed Saudi. According to official sources quoted by Al-Watan daily, a certificate from the Ministry of Labor indicates that the percentage of the Saudi employees in such companies represents 30 percent of the total number of their employees. Sources revealed that the ministry had received a proposal from the representatives of these companies and the concerned committees at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, suggesting that the percentage of Saudization be reduced to 15 percent in order to ensure the continued operation of their production lines.“There are huge job opportunities in the pharmaceutical and medical supplies companies. We had 50,000 jobs for salesmen, however, we failed to find qualified Saudis to fill those jobs. It should be understood that these are field jobs and a salesman to directly deal with the different types of the medical facilities in the private and public sectors. Thus the medical salesman or representatives should be of a high caliber as they usually deal with medicines and medical devices." asserted Fahd Abdulrauf Baterji, member of the pharmaceutical industries in Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Baterji believes that this necessitates the Saudization percentages to be gradually implemented, in order to give the investors enough time to train Saudis to replace the foreigners in the field, most of whom are professional pharmacists and medical doctors. Rafat Salama, a member of the medical equipment group in Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “The pharmaceutical and medical supplies companies do respect the Saudization decision but the percentages should match the products of the labor market in the specializations needed by the health sector. The Nitaqat program introduced by the Ministry of Labor classifies companies into four categories: Excellent, Green, Yellow and Red to encourage the owners of private businesses to employ Saudi jobseekers. The companies which fall on the yellow and red zones do not meet the Saudization quota set by the Ministry, and need to employ more Saudi jobseekers in order to benefit from Ministry incentives.
