Saudi Arabia threatens to terminate the employment contracts of many Yemeni doctors.

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

**((Arabian Sea)) Newsroom:** A number of Yemeni doctors working in the Saudi Ministry of Health yesterday made an urgent appeal to the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, and the council members, to urgently intervene with the Saudi authorities to stop the decision to terminate their registration and stop renewing their contracts. In their appeal, the doctors said that they were surprised by decisions to terminate the contracts of a large number of Yemeni doctors in various specialties and job grades, including general practitioners, residents, specialists, and consultants, at a time when these procedures did not include other nationalities working in the same sector. They added that the Saudi Ministry of Health informed some Yemeni doctors of the termination of their contracts upon the expiration of their current term, while the renewal of other contracts was canceled without prior notice, which threatens the future of more than two thousand Yemeni doctors and health workers. The doctors pointed out that they had contacted the Yemeni Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate General in Jeddah in an effort to find a solution to the problem, without receiving any response. They also explained that they sent similar messages to the Yemeni Minister of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but they have not led to any result so far. The doctors called on the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council to personally intervene with the brothers in Saudi Arabia to address their issue, similar to the Syrian doctors who were extended after the intervention of their government. The doctors expressed their concern about the repercussions of their forced return to Yemen in light of the continued control of the Houthi group over governorates and health facilities, which exposes some of them to losing their livelihoods and property. An official memorandum issued by the Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Qasim Buhaibeh, and addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, dated last March, called for urgent action to address the Saudi side and hold a joint meeting with the Saudi Ministry of Health to discuss the conditions of Yemeni doctors. However, the doctors confirmed that no progress has been made in this file so far.