Saudi feud has little effect on hospitals in province
ANDREA HILL
A diplomatic dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia, which has resulted in the Middle Eastern country pulling thousands of students, including about 750 medical residents, from Canadian institutions, will not disrupt operations of the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
In an emailed statement, a spokeswoman for the provincial health body said no medical residents from Saudi Arabia are working in the province.
“I can tell you that the Saskatchewan Health Authority does not anticipate any impact on our health-care services in Saskatchewan due to the withdrawal of Saudi Arabian medical residents from Canada,” Amanda Purcell said in an email.
“The Postgraduate Medical Ed- ucation office has confirmed that there are no medical residents from Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia suspended diplomatic ties with Canada on Sunday and expelled the Canadian ambassador after Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland took to Twitter to criticize the arrest of social activists and ask for their immediate release.
As part of retaliatory actions against Canada, Saudi Arabia has ordered thousands of Saudi students to leave the country.
According to the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, 750 of the country’s medical residents were Saudi Arabian citizens at last count, in November 2016.
Saudi residents are not paid by the Canadian government; rather the Saudi Arabian government pays hospitals here $100,000 annually to take them on. The posi- tions are over and above the spots provincial governments afford to Canadian students.
According to a report by Reuters, a Saudi Arabian press agency announced Wednesday that the country has halted all medical treatment programs in Canada, and is co-ordinating the transfer of all Saudi patients from Canadian hospitals to other hospitals outside Canada.
Purcell would not say how many — if any — Saudi patients would be affected in Saskatchewan.
“If patients request transfers or a discharge for any reason, it would be confidential patient information. We would be unable to discuss it publicly under the Health Information Protection Act.”