Saudi Arabia has barred nearly 15,000 medical professionals from working in the kingdom’s health sector as they are unsuccessful to pass efficiency tests or were caught responsible for acquiring forged certificates.

The secretary general of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialities, Mr Hussein Al-Firaiji, claimed that 15,202 people are barred by his organization. He said that the commission has disclosed 1,093 fake medical certificates since November and many of the forged certificates were taken in pharmacology, ophthalmology and nursing.

He said that there were nearly 57 medical doctors with forged certificates and remaining doctors were banned from working in the Kingdom as they did not pass the efficiency tests.

Mr Al-Firaiji said that many forged certificates were from the Southeast Asian countries and that the commission commenced scrutinizing certificates about 11 years ago. But, some government organizations and several private health institutions did not make it mandatory on their medical people to have their certificates attested by the commission.

He also said that the rising number of deaths due to medical mistakes is main reason to scrutiny and restrict unqualified medical staff.