Critical Analysis: Health Care Challenges in Saudi Arabia

This report identifies and analyzes the key challenges confronting the healthcare system of Saudi Arabia. These challenges include a shortage of local health professionals such as nurses, physicians, and pharmacists, leading to reliance on expatriate labor and workforce instability. Unequal distribution of healthcare facilities and professionals across geographical regions results in accessibility issues, particularly for disadvantaged populations and those in rural areas. Insufficient funding, exacerbated by free public healthcare services and rapid population growth, creates cost pressures. The report suggests strategies such as establishing more medical schools, improving resource allocation, collaborating with other sectors, and exploring privatization to enhance the Saudi Arabian healthcare system. Collaboration between the Ministry of Health and related sectors is crucial for implementing new strategies and improving overall healthcare delivery.

Running head: HEALTH CARE CHALLENGES 1
Health Care Challenges in Saudi Arabia
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Challenges facing the healthcare system of Saudi Arabia
The health care system of Saudi Arabia is continuously faced by challenges that can be
resolved. The challenges include; inadequate health professionals, accessibility to health services
and insufficient funding.
Inadequate health professionals
The health care system of Saudi Arabia is experiencing shortage of local professionals
such as nurses, physicians and pharmacists. Majority of health professionals are emigrants
leading to unsteadiness in the labor force and high percentage of turnover. The inability of the
government to train and retain health professionals is the major cause of the shortage. The
government should consider establishing more medical schools to teach and train for health
professional occupations. Efforts to train local health professions will help in substituting the
large expatriate labor force with skilled local Saudi Arabians inhabitants in the health sector (Al-
Asfour & Khan, 2014). This will enhance stability in the workforce and also increase the
availability of qualified manpower in the health sector.
Accessibility to health services
The existing Ministry of Health (MOH) statistics clearly display that there is unequal
distribution of health professionals and health care facilities across geographical regions. People
suffer a lot due to long waiting queues in order to access health facilities and services. The
disadvantaged, elderly and people with special needs lack access to health services especially
those living in rural areas. People who live in remote areas and along borders also do not have
the capacity to access health care services. The government needs to administer strategies that

HEALTH CARE CHALLENGES 3
can help in improving accessibility to all parts of the country. It can be done by establishing
general hospitals in rural areas and adopting health specialists through the MOH. MOH should
also collaborate with other sectors such as transport, power and water companies in order to
enhance service provision in underprivileged areas and to care for individuals with greatest
necessities (Alyasin & Douglas, 2014).
Insufficient funds
Providing the necessary fund for health care facilities is a major challenge faced by
MOH. Since it is the responsibility of the government to provide fund to the public health
services, therefore services provided are free, this leads to cost pressure because of the rapid
population growth and the increasing cost of developing the technology. The government should
establish a strategy that can supervise and regulate the health care sector (Alkhamis, Hassan &
Cosgrove, 2014). Privatization of public hospitals strategy should be established to assist in
reducing the government expenditure on public hospitals. Privatization will also help in
improving the health facilities and producing financial bases for MOH (Alkhamis, 2017). To
enhance better health system, the MOH and health related sectors should collaborate their efforts
to ensure new strategies are implemented.

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References
Al-Asfour, A., & Khan, S. A. (2014). Workforce localization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
Issues and challenges. Human Resource Development International, 17(2), 243-253.
Alkhamis, A. A. (2017). Critical analysis and review of the literature on healthcare privatization
and its association with access to medical care in Saudi Arabia. Journal of infection and
public health, 10(3), 258-268.
Alkhamis, A., Hassan, A., & Cosgrove, P. (2014). Financing healthcare in Gulf Cooperation
Council countries: a focus on Saudi Arabia. The International journal of health planning
and management, 29(1), e64-e82.
Alyasin, A., & Douglas, C. (2014). Reasons for non-urgent presentations to the emergency
department in Saudi Arabia. International emergency nursing, 22(4), 220-225.