Kingdom of Saudia Arabia KSA, UAE and Qatar has de-recognized Pakistan's MS (Master of Surgery) / MD (Doctor of Medicine) programs. As a result of this, Pakistani doctors will no longer be eligible to work in Saudi Arabia and a few other Arab countries as its MS (Master of Surgery)/MD (Doctor of Medicine) post-graduate programme has been de-recognised in the kingdom.
The move is going to affect thousands of qualified Pakistani doctors working in Middle East and render them jobless. Meanwhile, several of them have been sacked or asked to be ready for deportation.
Following Saudi Arabia's decision, many other Arabic countries such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain have also de-recognized Pakistani medical programmes. It is also pertinent to mention here that Pakistani Doctors were once considered the best professionals in the world, and even most developed countries like USA, UK used to welcome Pakistani doctors to work in their hospitals.
According to the details, Saudi Arabia's health ministry reportedly claims that Pakistan's MS/MD programmes do not have structured training programmes, which is a requisite to employ medics for higher positions. The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) has issued termination letters to several Pakistani doctors and said their applications for professional qualifications had been dismissed as the Pakistani degree was admissible as per the rules, the report added.
"Your application for professional qualification has been rejected. The reason is that your master degree from Pakistan is not acceptable according to the SCFHS regulations," read the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties' (SCFHS) letter.
