Health ministry takes note of doctors' sacking in Saudi Arabia.

ISLAMABAD -- Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has taken serious cognizance of the reports regarding termination of contracts of Pakistani doctors in Saudi Arabia.

The health minister has directed the staff concerned to immediately contact relevant Saudi authorities inquiring about the authenticity of the news and seeking further details of the issue.

Once the nature and extent of the problem is verified, appropriate remedial actions would be taken through government-to-government channels to provide maximum relief to the affected health professionals.

'Sindh govt to seek help from WHO for curbing HIV'

Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision is to extend all-out support to Pakistani diaspora in foreign countries to protect their rights and resolve their problems.

Every country, including Pakistan, has its own medical regulators who implement a set of rules to modulate the medical practice in their respective country and ensure safety and standards of healthcare.

The health minister has taken up the issue at the highest level and a resolution will be adopted soon.

Meanwhile, recently, Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries rejected the postgraduate degree programme of Pakistan - MS (Master of Surgery) and MD (Doctor of Medicine) - removing it from the eligibility list of the highest paid tier.

This has reportedly rendered hundreds of highly qualified doctors jobless. A majority of them are in Saudi Arabia who have been told to leave or be ready for deportation.

Rejecting Pakistan's MS/MD degree, the Saudi ministry of health claimed it lacked structured training programme, a mandatory requirement to hire medics against important positions. After the Saudi move, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain also took the similar step.

It was learnt that the same degree programme offered by India, Egypt, Sudan and Bangladesh was acceptable in Saudi Arabia and other countries.

Some of the affected doctors and senior health officials in Pakistan blame the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) for damaging their career.

A spokesperson for the Association of University Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan claimed that CPSP delegations during recent visits to Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states had presented distorted facts about Pakistan's university programme to maintain monopoly of the CPSP-sponsored FCPS qualification.

K-P hospitals shut against manhandling of doctors

It is said that the CPSP claimed there...