Saudi raises RP nurses’ salary to 40%

By EDD K. USMAN
July 4, 2009, 7:26pm
Published on Manila Bulletin (http://www.mb.com.ph)

With the economic crisis still without end in sight, Filipino nurses working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, particularly those hired effective July 1, 2009, will have a fatter take home pay as the Ministry of Health headed by Minister Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Rabeeah raised their salary to 40 percent from the old basic rate of Saudi riyal (SR) 2,550.

This increases the affected newly hired Filipino nurses’ monthly pay from SR2,550 to SR3,570, approximately P45,774.54 in today’s exchange rate (SR1=P12.8220), the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Recruitment Office (SRO) Manila headed by Fahad S. Al-Msaibeeh, employment attaché, said.

Covered by the salary increase are those hired effective July 1 and with at least one year working experience after passing the nurses' board examinations.

“I am pleased to announce that the Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, granted a 40 percent increase in the salary of nurses. We believe that this increase will help not only the nurses we hire, but also their families and extended relatives left in the Philippines whom they are supporting to meet the demands of the high cost of living due to the economic meltdown,” Msaibeeh said in a statement.

“In behalf of the Ministry of Health, I hope that we are able to make the Filipino nurses happy somehow. Although, no amount of money can compensate their sacrifices, hard work and professionalism,” the SRO Manila official added.

Asked for his reaction, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis welcomed what he described the “very pleasant development.”

Seguis said it is well-deserved “by our nurses for their competence. This is welcomed good news. It is long-deserved.”

At the same time, the official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) urged Filipino nurses who want to work in the kingdom to make sure their documents are in order and contain no fraudulent records because the Saudi government is very strict in applying their laws.

Much earlier this year, Saudi Ambassador Mohammad Ameen Wali revealed his government’s plans to hire about 5,000 Filipino nurses as new medical facilities are being constructed in the kingdom as well as filling the manpower of existing facilities.

The embassy had relayed this to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) under Secretary Marianito Roque for a government-to-government hiring of the nurses.

A delegation from the Saudi health ministry visited the Philippines recently and interviewed thousands of nurses for immediate hiring.

Nurses to be assigned to Makkah and Madinah must be Muslim, while other Saudi areas accept both Muslim and non-Muslim workers.

Saudi Arabia remains the top destination of Filipinos going abroad to work.