RIYADH — About 40 percent of the 2,000 Saudi pharmacists seeking jobs were employed during the first five months of the current year, business daily Al-Eqtsadiah reported on Tuesday quoting Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi. "The ministry is still intensively working with the concerned parties to increase the ratio of the Saudization of jobs and employ more pharmacists through agreements with the private sector," he said. Al-Rajhi praised the decision to nationalize the posts of salesmen in scientific offices which are important and vital jobs. According to the figures released by the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), there are 14,338 pharmacists working for the private sector consisting of 2,082 Saudis and 12,256 foreigners. GOSI said 6,753 employees are working in the retail sector for pharmaceutical products including 804 Saudis, while there are 6,254 employees selling medicines consisting of 1,145 Saudis and 5,109 non-Saudis. The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties expected the number of Saudi pharmacists to increase by about 149 percent during the five years from 2018 to 2022 to reach 12,377 consisting of 6,668 men and 5,709 women. According to data collected from a number of Saudi universities, as many as 2,393 men and women pharmacists will graduate in 2019, 2,631 in 2010, 3,004 in 2021, and 3,118 in 2022. According to statistics, the number of Saudi pharmacists will reach 26,600 in the year 2027 representing about 74 percent while the expatriate pharmacists will decrease by about 54 percent to reach 9,440 bringing the entire number of pharmacists in the country to about 36,000. The statistics said there will be one pharmacist for each 1,200 persons.
