One of the key, yet often ignored requisites to provide quality healthcare service is the availability of human capital. Without the availability of qualified and specialised human resources, even the best medical facility with the most advanced medical equipment is not enough.
The MENA region’s population is growing at an average rate of around 2% per annum. This is well above the global rate of 1.1% population growth. High birth rates, increasing life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates contribute to higher population growth in the MENA region.
The population growth rate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is growing by roughly 2.5%, the United Arab Emirates by around 1% per annum Egypt by 1.6% per annum, which results in increased demand for healthcare facilities and so, a greater demand for healthcare professionals.
On top of that, there is a historical demand/supply gap in terms of the number of beds, clinics and other healthcare facilities, and most of the region especially the KSA, UAE and Egypt is focusing on establishing new healthcare facilities to increase access of healthcare to patients and improve quality of overall provision of healthcare services, resulting in an increase in the demand for medical professionals across the region.
Moreover, the healthcare sector is going through major consumerisation and consolidation across the globe and in the region, which is having a great impact on the provision of healthcare services resulting in the continuous evolution of healthcare sector redefining the landscape of healthcare.
The growing burden of chronic diseases, an ageing population, increasing patient expectations and rapid advances in treatment innovation and technology are all affecting the way health services are delivered
Mansoor Ahmed Healthcare, Education and PPP Expert
The growing burden of chronic diseases, an ageing population, increasing patient expectations and rapid advances in treatment innovation and technology are all affecting the way health services are delivered. All these factors are affecting the human skill set required to cater to current and emerging healthcare needs in the region.
Physicians and Nurses per Population
Physician and nurse density in the UAE and KSA per 1,000 population is higher than the GCC countries’ average, however, it is significantly lower than international benchmarks with developed healthcare systems. Egypt has one of the Middle East’s lowest ratios of healthcare workers per capita. Whilst many physicians graduate from Egypt, the number of physicians practising in the country is quite low due to the brain drain of high-quality doctors in the GCC and Western countries.
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Most analysts consider doctors/nurses / allied professional health (APH) staff / 1,000 population as a benchmark to rank healthcare system of a country. However, the availability of doctors/nurses / allied professional health (APH) staff / 1,000 population is significantly influenced by the proportion of ageing population within the total population. An ageing population needs more healthcare services due to the higher incidence of chronic conditions and age-related illnesses. This increased demand places other pressure on the healthcare system causing more hospital beds/long-term care and rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes and home care services.
One of the primary reasons for the increased demand for healthcare services in the Western world, aside from well-established healthcare systems, is the growing proportion of the ageing population. On the other hand, compared to Middle Eastern countries, the crude birth rates in Europe and North America are much lower. The crude birth rates for the United Kingdom are 11.9, Germany 9.00, Japan 7.9, United States of America 12.4, and Canada 12.90. Meanwhile, the crude birth rates are significantly higher in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at 19.69, 10.59 in the UAE and 27.30 in Egypt.
As a result of the ongoing transition in the region towards the adoption of new medical technologies, the demand is shifting from traditional skill sets to advanced medical education.
Mansoor Ahmed Healthcare, Education and PPP Expert
Mansoor Ahmed Healthcare, Education and PPP Expert
There are many other factors which determine the Number of Physicians and Nurses per 1,000 Population, including the burden of disease etc. However, comparing the Number of Physicians and Nurses per 1,000 Population of the Middle East to Western Countries is safely not a right comparison.
Demand for Medical Professionals in the Middle East
Based on current and projected demand-supply analysis the following section of article presented medical professional staff in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt
The increase in demand for the KSA will be a result of the following factors.
- Due to the increase in population, which is expected to reach 40 million by 2030, and the requirement for new healthcare facilities, an additional 18,000 – 20,000 hospital beds will be required.
- The demand will be even higher as a part of the Saudization drive in the healthcare sector where the majority of these jobs must be filled by Saudi Nationals. Presently, 57% of doctors (including dentists), 55% of nurses, 17% of AHPs and 59% of pharmacists, which total around 230,000 medical professionals, are expatriates.
- Furthermore, the Kingdom embarks on the adoption of new medical technologies resulting in demand moving from traditional courses to advanced medical education. Artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, robotic medical sciences, genome sequences and short courses to enhance the skill set of doctors, registered nurses (RN) and AHPs to be able to opt for specialised positions; all of which will require additional facilities.
The increase in demand for Egypt will be a result of the following factors.
- Due to the increase in population, which is expected to reach 115 million by 2030, and the requirement for new healthcare facilities, an additional 13,600 beds will be required. There will be additional demand for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and dentists.
- The demand for healthcare workers to meet the growing population is increasing; along with the launch of the Universal Healthcare Insurance (UHI) which is initiating the increase of beds per population to increase the accessibility of healthcare services.
- The quickly maturing healthcare market in Egypt is gaining momentum but still has a way to go to close the bed shortage gap and manage the increase of non-communicable diseases. The demand drivers of an ageing population, bed shortage and increase of diseases in the population are driving great demand for quality healthcare, and hospital centres in general.
In conclusion, several issues remain to be addressed, especially retaining and attracting quality human resources due to the shortage of quality human resources, which is one of the greatest challenges faced by healthcare providers in the region.
Healthcare providers, desperate to recruit qualified specialised staff in an under-supply market, have prompted a trend of poaching physicians from competitors. With a limited pool of established physicians, salaries have seen exceptional growth, to the extent that it is negatively affecting the profitability of healthcare facilities in many cases, which can only be addressed when with supply gap is reduced as a result of an increase in number of qualified healthcare professionals in the region. Moreover, as a result of the ongoing transition in the region towards the adoption of new medical technologies, the demand is shifting from traditional skill sets to advanced medical education. Besides increasing demand to cater to new healthcare facilities, the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, robotic sciences, and genome sequences require the workforce in the medical industry to continuously enhance their skill set to be able to opt for specialised positions, the resulting demand for more medical education institutions.
