Qatar needs 150 Qatari doctors every year but the number of Qatari medical graduates are not more than five a year, says a senior official from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
Dr Abdullatheef Al Khal, Director, Department of Medical Education, said the number of citizens working in the health sector has dropped in the past 10 years.
“This is forcing us to bring doctors from outside to fill the huge gap,” Al Sharq quoted him as telling a press conference held yesterday to announce the government’s scholarship programme for Qatari students for the current year.
“We are facing a severe shortage of qualified citizens in health sector, including nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other supporting staff such as in first aid. I expect the money allocated for medical scholarship will encourage more Qataris to pursue medical education,” said Al Khal.
He said the new College of Medicine at Qatar University has enrolled about 70 students and about 80 percent of them are Qataris besides Qataris studying at Weill Cornell Medical College at Education City.
The scholarship programme aims to support 21,000 Qataris in the next 10 days to pursue higher studies in specialisations required by the local job market. The Ministry of Administrative Development yesterday held an orientation programme on the scholarship scheme involving representatives from 30 government entities.
Abdullah Al Dosari, Undersecretary, HR, at the ministry and Dr Khalid Al Horr, Director, Evaluation Institute at Supreme Education Council were present at the press conference.
Al Dosari said scholarships are offered this year for 3,485 positions and online registration of diploma and high school certificate holders has begun. University students seeking scholarships for higher studies in local and foreign universities will register in the next phase. The third phase will cover government employees.
Qataris studying under scholarships granted by the ministry are bound to serve in government entities double the period of study. However, those receiving scholarships from SEC have the option to look for jobs elsewhere, Al Dosari said, explaining the difference between the two types of scholarships.
The money for the ministry scholarship is higher. SEC scholarship allows to study for Master’s and PhD while the former is limited to diploma and bachelor’s degrees, he added. The highest amount is allocated for medical degrees, with QR10,000 a month for first year, QR15,000 for second, QR20,000 for third and QR26,00 for fourth year and above.
Engineering, paramedics and air control monitoring have been allocated QR9,000 per month, accounting QR8,000, financial management QR7,000 and other specialisations QR6,000. For those studying abroad under the scholarship programme, SEC will give an additional allowance calculated in the currencies of the countries.
