Based on authority granted to them by the Ministry of Health, directorates of Health Affairs have excluded about 50,000 health practitioners from the health-risk allowance because they did not meet the requirements and conditions. According to a memo issued by the Department of Infection Control in Health Institutions, a copy of which Okaz/Saudi Gazette has obtained, all nurse technicians carrying out vaccination campaigns in schools and homes have been excluded from the allowance. All laboratory technicians, epidemiology and X-ray supervisors and health supervisors whose names are not on the cadre list have also been excluded from receiving the allowance, but two technicians in each health center will receive it. When the Ministry of Health had powers to determine the health-risk allowance, it did not require directorates of Health Affairs personnel to be on the cadre list to be eligible for it. The Ministry of Civil Service had said that under the old plan, the allowance may be given to all personnel, regardless of whether they are on the cadre list or not. Dr. Faisal Bin Hamid Al-Khadidi, Director of the Department of Infection Control in Health Institutions, said the new plan for the allowance applies to all health directorates and centers in the Kingdom. The plan was set by the Ministry of Health, he added, which led the Taif Directorate of Health Affairs to send a memo to all health centers. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette, though, that health centers in Jeddah, Makkah, and Al-Baha have not received it. A number of health practitioners have objected to the new conditions, which will make them ineligible for the allowance, and said they received the allowance when the Ministry of Health first set the policy. Some medical professionals said the plan to reduce the number of people eligible for the allowance was developed after the allowance was increased from SR240 to SR750. Some nurse technicians objected the decision to exclude them from receiving the allowance. __
