Over 50 Saudi graduates of health colleges, affiliated with the Ministry of Higher Education, gathered at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh Tuesday demanding immediate appointment in government hospitals. The students have come from different parts of the country to voice their job concerns in person. The graduates have been waiting for government jobs for over seven months, after attending health colleges for about four years. They said that the Ministry of Health has put their job appointment decision with the Civil Service Department, which could mean a longer time to wait. Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health said that it was hiring 6,700 medical staff from abroad due to the lack of qualified Saudi medical personnel. “We are filing a lawsuit with the Court of Grievances against the Ministry of Health,” said Ahmad Al-Otaibi, a medical job seeker. The graduates want the ministry to have control over medical job availability and appointment instead of the Civil Service Department which has been known for years-long delays. The students said that they had signed college admission application which specified that the Ministry of Health would be responsible for their job appointment after graduation. “Now things have changed. And the Civil Service Department requires a payment of SR900 to have our credentials examined by the Medical Majors Commission and another SR500 to take the written medical exam,” Al-Otaibi said. “We are jobless. How could they expect us to pay all these fees? Weren't these government health colleges trustworthy for the Civil Service Department to have us examined and our credentials verified?,” Ahmad questioned. The students said they have met Minister of Health Abdullah Al-Rabeah to resolve their job delay, but he told them that the Civil Service Department was the authority responsible for providing jobs to them in the government hospitals. “It is the government employment law and we have to apply to all,” the minister told them, Al-Otaibi said. The transfer of operation of health colleges from the Ministry of Health to the Ministry of Higher Education a couple of years ago has relieved the Ministry of Health from providing jobs to the graduates, said Khaled Marghalani, spokesman of the Ministry of Health. “But the ministry will give them jobs when there are vacancies,” he said.
