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.

Saudi veiled women doctors work at a hospital in Riyadh March 3, 2005. (Reuters)

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 in treatment innovation and technology are all affecting the way health services are delivered.

This is leading to changes in the human skill set required to cater to current and emerging healthcare needs of the population.

Ahmed says Saudi Arabia – one of the largest healthcare markets in the region and the biggest in the GCC – has a population of 36.5 million which, combined with the country’s ambitious Vision 2030 plans, is driving fundamental structural changes across the Kingdom’s economy, including healthcare.

A nurse administers a dose of vaccine against the covid-19 diseases at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on January 21, 2021. Saudi Arabia launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign on December 17 after receiving the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Due to the increase in population, which is expected to reach 45 million by 2023, and the requirement for new healthcare facilities, an additional 26,000 to 43,000 beds will be required.

The demand will be even higher as a part of Saudization drive in the healthcare sector where the majority of these jobs must be filled by Saudi nationals.

Presently, 60 percent of doctors (including dentists), 57 percent of nurses, 19 percent of allied health professionals and 61 percent of the pharmacists, which total to around 232,000 medical professionals, are expatriates.

Furthermore, as the Kingdom embarks in the adoption of new medical technologies resulting in demand moving from traditional courses to advanced medical education. Artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, robotic medical sciences, genome sequences and short courses to enhance the skillset of doctors, registered nurses and allied health professionals to be able to opt for specialized positions; all of which will require additional facilities.

Shortages across the Middle East

The report also looked at other healthcare gaps across the region.

In Egypt – which has one of the lowest rations of doctors and nurses per capita in the population – around 48,000 new healthcare staff will be required by 2030.

“Egypt has one of the Middle East’s lowest ratios of healthcare workers per capita,” said Ahmed. “Whilst a large number of physicians graduate from Egypt, the number of physicians practicing in the country is very low due to the brain drain of high-quality doctors to the GCC and the Western countries.”

“Due to the increase in population, which is expected to reach 115 million by 2030, and the requirement for new healthcare facilities, an additional 13,600 (hospital) beds will be required.”

“There will be additional demand for doctors, nurses, pharmacists and dentists. The demand for healthcare workers to meet the growing population is increasing; along with the launch of the Universal Healthcare Insurance (UHI) which is initiating the increase of beds per population to increase the accessibility of healthcare services.”

“The quickly maturing healthcare market in Egypt is gaining momentum but still has a way to go to close the bed[1]shortage gap and manage the increase of non-communicable diseases. The demand drivers of an aging population, bed-shortage and increase of diseases in the population are driving great demand for quality, healthcare and hospital centers in general.”

And in the UAE, there will be a gap of around 15,000 nurses and allied health professionals in Abu Dhabi and 6,000 physicians and 11,000 nurses in Dubai by 2030, Ahmed said.

“Despite the fact that a remarkable increase (has) took place in the number of healthcare workforce in the UAE, there is still a shortage in availability of trained physicians/nurses, particularly local professionals,” he said. “The gaps in the workforce do not only pertain to doctors but also to nurses and other paramedical staff who make up the bulk of health workforce.”

“Physician and nurse density in UAE at 2.9 and 6.4 per 1,000 population respectively is higher than the GCC countries’ average, however, it is significantly lower than international benchmarks with developed healthcare systems. Also, there is an imbalance in the distribution of doctors and nurses within the UAE with Abu Dhabi having the highest ratio of doctors and nurses to population.”

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