Eight expatriate doctors have accused their employers at a private hospital of failing to get them medical licences to allow them to practice in the Kingdom. In their complaint – now being investigated by the Ministry of Health – they claim that other doctors, whose contracts the hospital had terminated five years ago, had worked there with expired medical licenses. The doctors also claim that a number of male and female nurses are currently working at the medical facility without licences. Hospital officials refused to comment when contacted. One official simply said: “We have nothing to say.” The complaint, submitted to the Minister of Health, states that the doctors had resigned in protest but that the hospital administration had refused to accept their resignations. In response, Dr. Sami Badawood, Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, said his department was investigating the case. He said the investigation was likely to take two days and would include getting statements from both the doctors and members of the hospital administration. Badawood said that if it is proven that the doctors have been practicing medicine in the Kingdom without licenses, then the hospital would be penalized. This could mean the “closure of the health facility or some of the clinics, and the hospital administration would have to pay heavy fines.” Other allegations in the complaint include claims that government employees – of the Jeddah Directorate of Health Affairs – were working in evening jobs at the private hospital. The doctors said that these government employees had turned a “blind eye to the hospital administration's violations.” The doctors said that they have come forward now with their complaint because of “our fear of being uncovered and being taken to task after the medical errors that have occurred at the hospital recently.” They stressed that they were ready to take full responsibility for their own actions. They also alleged that the fees for medical licences had been deducted from their salaries but they had not seen any documentation proving that they were allowed to practice. This is despite the fact that many of them had been working at the hospital for between three and eight years. They said that they have often been embarrassed when asked by patients about their medical licences. They have also been angry at the administration for allegedly not paying them their financial entitlements.
