The services of 41 employees occupying administrative posts in King Khaled Hospital have been terminated for demanding increase in their salaries. The company operating the hospital issued the orders terminating the services of the employees of both sexes, many of whom were serving the hospital for a long time. The sacked staff said they worked in the hospital on a meager salary ranging from SR600 to SR1,200. Many of the sacked employees are married with children. The terminated employees alleged that on several occasions they had sought the intervention of the Health Directorate for an increase in their salaries. “But, to our dismay, every time we were told that there were no vacancies to be filled. Surprisingly, the directorate was appointing people when we were in the hospital,” they said. They claimed that the Health Directorate favors some people so they employ them instead of the already working staff in the hospital. Some of the fired women said they were relying on their salaries to sustain their families since some of them are divorcees. Speaking on phone, Owdah Al-Attawi, spokesman of the Health Directorate in Tabuk, said his department has nothing to do with recruitment since the Ministry of Civil Service is responsible for the same. He refuted the allegations that the directorate was favoring some of those it appoints. The directorate, he said, has a contract with the company which recruits people on its own and “there is no intervention from our side.” The company's representative said the Ministry of Health has canceled the jobs filled by the terminated employees. He said the jobs were on the operation and maintenance contract. He said the Ministry of Health should have coordinated with the directorate before canceling these jobs
