Following Mrs Bush’s signing of a joint cooperation agreement on Breast Cancer Awareness, the first group of Saudi health professionals will be traveling to the US in the near future. In addition to their travel for training, Arab News reports, a new cancer center is near opening at the King Fahd Medical City. The project sees a chance to replace foreign medical workers with Saudi nurses as more become qualified. Until recently, nursing was not considered a ‘proper’ job for Saudi women.
Saudi-US Cooperation to Boost Cancer Awareness
Ali Al-Zahrani, Arab NewsRIYADH, 9 November 2007 — The first batch of Saudis will be leaving for the United States within the next few months as part of the US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, signed between the US and Saudi Arabia last month.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Amro, CEO of the King Fahd Medical City (KFMC), said that as part of the agreement several Saudis in the health sector are to receive training opportunities at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.
“The basic plan is to begin within a couple of months with exchanges of visits. In addition, Saudi men and women will be given training opportunities,†Al-Amro said.
The US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research is the first joint cooperation program between the US and Saudi Arabia in the fight against cancer. US First Lady Laura Bush witnessed the signing of the agreement during her visit to the Kingdom last month.
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November:09:2007 - 03:05
Just last week either Al Arabiyah or Saudi tv took a street poll to gauge Saudi’s reaction to nursing as a profession for women. The majority were against Saudi women as nurses and felt it was a disrespectful and inappropriate profession. Therefore in order to hire more Saudi females in the nursing field, this stigma must first be overcome.
American Bedu
November:09:2007 - 03:05
The stigma isn’t just in the Gulf. In Syria, until quite recently, only orphans would go into nursing as the families of other women thought the job unseemly if not ungodly.