The majority of Saudi Doctors who are over the age of 40 years likely received their training and performed their residency outside of Saudi Arabia. However in recent years Saudi Arabia has built up its own excellent colleges of Medicine and can now teach and train the next generation of Saudi doctors exclusively in the Kingdom. This new generation is comprised of both male and female students who are bright, eager, dedicated and passionate of their work. The ones who I have spoken to all have a keen interest in community based medicine (CBM) as well as traditional clinical practices. They understand the needs to reach out to the communities for proactive and preventive health care as well as the need to educate families on basic issues of health and health care. I see these physicians taking initiatives and giving much of their own limited time to further their knowledge and skills as medical practitioners.
In general, another observation I have seen across the board in regards to Saudi physicians as compared to western physicians is an added level of compassion and caring. Now that is not meant to imply a western physician does not care or is not compassionate. I do believe the cultural traditions of Saudi Arabia tend to make the Saudi physicians more attentive with their patients. What do I mean by this exactly? Before beginning an examination, the Saudi physician will generally chat with the patient for a few minutes discussing family, weather, work, etc., and will do so in a manner that the patient does not feel rushed or pressured. The Saudi physician may even phone a patient at a later date to check on how he or she is doing (if not admitted to a hospital but still undergoing care or medication). And last I have known Saudi physicians who will make house calls to the residence of a patient to treat them or simply to check on them. These are practices which also used to apply in the Western world but modern day demands now have these practices becoming more and more outdated – in the West.
Filed under: Health, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi education | 26 Comments »
