While most of the government agencies complain of the shortage of staff, the administrative staff at King Faisal Specialist Hospitals in Riyadh and Jeddah have reached an epidemic level creating more financial burden at the expense of medical services provided, the new chairman of the board of directors said. Financial, administrative, and technical problems have plagued the performance of King Faisal Specialist Hospitals (KFSHs) in Riyadh and Jeddah in many ways for years, said Dr. Fahd Aal Abdul Jabar, the King's Adviser and new chairman of KFSH after his first meeting with the executives of the hospital. Debts traced to previous poor managements of the hospital have been piling up for years due to increasingly poor infrastructure and medical services, he said. A committee composed of the Ministry of Finance, and the Control Department, and the hospital would study the source of the debt and how to repay it. About SR130m has been allocated to improve the deplorable infrastructure of the two hospitals through providing more labs, air conditioners, a new computer system, and even electricity and water work, he said. A trauma center, a pediatric hospital attached to the main hospital, a cardiac center, new outpatient clinics, and training programs in the US and Canada and other development plans have been initially approved to bring the once-outstanding hospital for its medical services to life again, he added. The overstaffing problem has accumulated through previous managements, he said. “There will be stringent employment requirements, and the current employees will be thoroughly evaluated,” he added. A newspaper said it had received authentic information indicating that the setback in the performance of the hospital was behind the decision made by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, for the return of Dr. Aal Abdul Jabar to the hospital's management helm. A source at the hospital, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “The hospital has suffered a major management crisis leading to the rise in its expenditures. That has left the hospital holding the bag of a huge deficit in its budget estimated at SR600m.” The source continued revealing a great deal about the hospital saying that the staff has reached a breaking point of more than 8,000 employees at a hospital of a capacity of only 850 beds. This huge staff in one hospital almost touches the number of the staff of the Ministry of Health in 200 hospitals and first care centers across the nation. The hospital has more than 16 executives, throwing more administrative and financial burden on the budget, the source added. The KFSH in Riyadh and Jeddah need an overhaul at both the financial and administrative levels, said Dr. Muhammad Al-Khazim, a planning expert at King Saud University for Health Sciences. Overstaffing in the hospital could be traced to the diversity of management inside the hospital, especially with 16 executives in the organization structure, he said. Although toxic solution, downsizing, or relocating, might be the way out for now, he added. “A new mechanism of administration should be in place to downsize the staff, who can be transferred to other hospitals that actually need them,” he suggested. “The KFSH in Riyadh might be merged with other hospitals like King Fahd Hospital and Oyuon Hospital since they provide the same medical services as to become a bigger medical center with more improved specialist hospitals,” he again suggested. The appointment of Dr. Abdul Jabar is a step in the right direction to correct the deteriorating situation in the hospital, he said. __
