Saudi Arabia needs an extra 175,000 healthcare workers by 2030: Report

Saudi Arabia needs an extra 175,000 healthcare workers by 2030: Report

Saudi Arabia will need an additional 175,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers by 2030 to tackle shortages and meet the healthcare requirements of its growing population, according to a new report.

This includes about 69,000 extra doctors, 64,000 extra nurses and 42,000 extra allied health professionals – healthcare staff that are not in medicine or nursing but who support health administration and management, technical issues, diagnostics, rehabilitation and other fields of care.

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Mansoor Ahmed, director for health care, education and PPP at Colliers International, which has unveiled its latest report on the healthcare landscape in the Middle East, said demand is likely to be even higher. Presently around 232,000 medical staff are expatriates and - as a part of the Saudization drive in the healthcare sector the majority of these jobs must be filled by Saudi nationals, he said.

The report points out that, as the region accelerates towards construction of healthcare infrastructure in order to improve access of care, the demand for medical professionals’ scales exponentially.

Moreover, the changing context of health systems, the growing burden of chronic diseases, an ageing population, increasing patient expectations and rapid advances