Over 600 Saudi doctors to get PG degrees

Graduates who received their bachelor’s degrees in medicine A total of 628 young Saudi doctors will get certificates for their fields of specialization following their postgraduate training programs shortly, the Ministry of Health announced here yesterday .
Health Ministry spokesman Khalid Al-Mirghalani told Arab News yesterday that the graduates who received their bachelor’s degrees in medicine wanted to specialize in particular fields such as internal medicine, oncology, rheumatology, gynecology, orthopedics, surgery, pharmacology and endocrinology.”
Those who clear this program have specialized in one of the 40 disciplines chalked out by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties,” Al-Mirghalani said.
Extensive arrangements are being made by the Ministry of Health to hold the graduation ceremony in Riyadh on April 12.
In a statement regarding the forthcoming event, Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said the program was sponsored by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to raise the level of efficiency of the local doctors interested in specializing in their respective fields.
The doctors participated in an intensive program in major hospitals in various parts of the Kingdom.
Medical education in Saudi Arabia started in 1967 when the first medical college was founded at King Saud University (formerly Riyadh University), followed by 3 other colleges at King Abdul-Aziz University, King Faisal University and King Khalid University.
At present, there are 18 government and 3 private medical colleges. Medical education is governed by the Ministry of Higher Education which issues permits for new colleges and provides supervision of private medical colleges. However, in 2005 the National Commission for Academic Assessment and Accreditation (NCAAA) was established as a body of accreditation for higher education. Since then, all institutes of higher education, including medical colleges, both government and private, were to be accredited before licensed.
The role of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCHS) is to provide professional registration for practicing physicians and to supervise and accredit postgraduate training programs.
The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties is an independent body.
Among its roles, are accreditation of postgraduate programs, board exams, professional classification, and registration. The commission conducts a national test for medical graduates in the country.
The commission yearly issues exam statistics including a table that shows scores of graduates of each college compared anonymously to the scores of students from other colleges.
This type of comparison has been a strong motivation for each medical college to improve the students’ performance. It is an indirect quality assurance and stimulation for improvement and development.