Manama: Saudi Arabia’s labour and social development ministry has stopped recruiting foreign dentists in a bid to provide better employment opportunities for Saudis.
The decision followed a coordination meeting between the labour and health ministries to look into ways to motivate the private sector to hire Saudi men and women to work in the health sector.
The ministries said they looked forward to the private sector offering training sessions and workshops for Saudis to boost their employment chances in health sector.
According to figures released by the Saudi daily Okaz on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia has more than 13,500 dentists.
The figures show that 1,284 out of 5,649 Saudi dentists work in the public health sector. The decision has been hailed as “utterly brave” by social media users.
“The labour and health ministers deserve to be applauded for their decision,” one user posted.
“However, it will have no significance if it is not fully applied. Foreign dentists should be given a two-month grace period for the handover and then leave. Inspectors will make sure that the rules and regulations are fully applied and foreign dentists who do not comply should be fined and deported like other common workers.”
Another user called for continuing the drive by moving to replace foreign pharmacists next. “We have an excess number of foreigners working as pharmacists and Saudis should be given the chance to take over,” he said, adding that other professions should follow.
“It is unfortunate that our sons are graduates from prestigious universities and are now working as salesmen because of the excessive numbers of foreign architects in the country.”
The “Saudisation” drive to replace foreigners with Saudis is being inexorably implemented in the vast kingdom where foreigners make up one third of the total population of 32 million people.
The labour ministry, acting on a long-term agenda to reduce dependence on foreigners and boost local employment, has succeeded in “Saudising” several sectors.
According to a recent far-reaching decision, all salespeople in mall shops will soon have to be Saudi citizens, meaning that thousands of foreigners will have to leave.
