Once while traveling from Manchester to London in a train, a nice English girl sat next to me. She was a freshly-graduated nurse. She seemed proud and happy with her career. We talked a lot about how her society respects nurses and appreciates what nurses do for the society. Compare that with the image of Saudi nurses in our society. Many are ashamed of this career. Why, I asked myself? People regard non-Saudi nurses as “angels of mercy,” but when it comes to Saudi nurses they have a different opinion? There seems to be a negative image about all women who work in hospitals, not just nurses. For many Saudis, these women by working in such professions are going against the religion and the Saudi traditions and customs. Therefore, many Saudi nurses limit themselves to treating only women and children and refuse to treat men even if they work in men's section. However, the allegation that working as a nurse is against the religion and tradition is basically untrue. Early Muslim women did nurse wounded men in battlefields. They were proud of what they did. Today nurses are considered no more than “servants” who do not deserve respect. Because in the opinion of some of us, servants are lesser than us. This contradicts Islamic teachings. The image of nurses as “servants” has been enforced by the Arab media. In Egyptian films and movies, nurses are always depicted as providing care for the patient, wiping the doctor's forehead during surgeries, and preparing coffee and snacks. Some Saudis find it difficult to acknowledge the excellent contribution of Saudi nurses. They still see them as professionally inferior to non-Saudi nurses. May be because they regard them less punctual or less qualified than non-Saudi nurses. However, Saudi nurses do not lack proficiency at work at all when compared with non-Saudi nurses. The problem is some of them get busy in things that are not related to their job. When I visit hospitals, I find Saudi nurses also working as secretaries or receptionists. These things must be corrected. Saudi nurses must stick to their profession as nurses and get the required experience. Unfortunately, this stereotype has also been accepted by the Ministry of Health. Therefore, salaries of Saudi nurses have been offset by the recruitment of foreign nurses of different nationalities – Sri Lankans, Filipinas, Indians, Bangladeshis, and so on. In spite of the fact that there is an increase in the ratio of Saudi nurses within government and private hospitals, a negative image surrounding them remains. Many nurses are either spinsters or divorcees at the beginning of marriage. This makes the majority of young Saudi girls think twice before entering faculties of nursing. Married women, however, may find themselves in a position where they have to choose between job and marriage. Some nurses are also sexually harassed at work and they suffer on a daily basis. This is because people think Saudi nurses are only working because they are in search of a relationship. All these factors put Saudi nurses under emotional and psychological stress. They start quitting the profession, especially those who face problems with their families. According to Raja Muhammad, the manager of the Nursing Department at the Ministry of Health in Jeddah, 70 percent of Saudi nurses in the city are experiencing hostility from their families. This, she says, affects their job performance and it negatively impacts health care in general. The question that arises is: Can the Ministry of Health achieve its aim of employing up to 70,000 Saudi nurses in five years from now? In public hospitals, 77 percent of working nurses are non-Saudis and in the private sector the percentage reaches near 98 percent. I leave it to the ministry and our society to answer. – SG The writer can be reached at [email protected] and his blog is: alabri3.blogspot.com __
