Saudi Arabia: Workers must undergo comprehensive medical tests at least once a year
Employers obligated to provide healthcare for their workers under kingdom’s labour law
Cairo: Employers are obligated to provide healthcare for their workers under the Saudi labour law, the kingdom’s Ministry of Human Resources has stressed.
Article 144 of the Saudi labour law stipulates that the employer has to provide preventive and curative healthcare for the employees, the ministry noted.
Under the same law, the employer has to assign a doctor or more examining workers susceptible to occupational diseases specified in the social insurance system.
A comprehensive medical examination is mandatory at least once a year and the results should be registered both in the doctor’s and the worker’s records.
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In recent years, Saudi Arabia, home to a large community of expatriate workers, has sought to regulate its job market, and boost its attractiveness and competitiveness.
Last year, the Ministry of Human Resources unveiled an authentication plan via the Qiwa platform obligating private sector institutions to document 20 per cent of their employees’ contracts in the first quarter of 2023, 50 per cent in the second half, and 80 per cent in the third quarter.
The plan aims to preserve rights of parties to the contractual relationship, and provide a stable labour environment conducive for the employee’s productivity increase and bolstering the job market in the kingdom.
The ministry has also urged employers to register and update data on their businesses’ branches and employees before a related deadline expires as part of efforts to regulate the job market.
Registration is accessible via the ministry’s Qiwa platform, enabling employers to boost operation and management of their establishments.
The ministry set the registration deadline at May 30 for the establishment employing 20 workers at most, June 30 for the establishment manned by 21 to 40 workers, and July 30 for the establishment employing at least 50.
In 2020, Saudi Arabia introduced major labour reforms, drastically improving its sponsorship system. The reforms, which went into effect in the ensuing year, allow job mobility and regulate the exit and re-entry visa issuance for expatriate workers without employers’ approval.