Saudi- MOH

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Hello to everyone..Can I ask anyone who is working with MOH saudi Arabia? Can I ask if they are offering a 1 year contract? Can you give me also an idea regarding their exam? Thank you in advance. Godbless!

@lyfer Thank you also! May I know where can I get job infos in KSA?

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chadlie said:
Thanks ThinkerBelleRN! Oh myyyy how could I get hospital experience here when it is really hard to find one?

You're welcome...

I guess that's a hard question to answer. I understand how difficult it is to find a job these days. I guess you just need to be more patient. Just continue with your training or volunteer work, then maybe that will help. You can look into employment agencies that hire nurses for the middle east, or go to POEA and inquire. They need registered nurses with at least 1 year of hospital experience, usually POEA hires nurses for KSA.

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@ThinkerBelleRN Thanks a lot. I hope I can live my dreams in reality. Good luck to you meangurl and God Bless!

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to continue my long story :yeah:, there I got my ticket and visa from the SR office, the payment should be in exact dollar amount.. hayy.. I still remember I had to look for other applicants who has no dollar bill as well and simultaneously rushed in a money changer, they do not convert small amount.. I was in a hurry at that time because I have to catch up with my pm duty in Nueva Ecija.. hayy grabe..

Then, the date of my flight came, the journey took 7-8 hours.. Humdullilah I have met a fellow nurse friend and we sat beside each other. After we reach the Saudi Immigration, we had to take our luggage... I took a lot of time looking for my luggage, at first i couldn't find it, I almost cried but at last I found my luggage somewhere in the corner with broken wheels and handle (a learn to lesson from buying a cheap luggage bag..) huhuhu, Then it was late for me to know that I lost my friend as well because of my preoccupation locating my luggage.. Hayy.. There was no way of calling her because I still have no Saudi SIM at that time. Fortunately she found me and told me she was so afraid because she couldn't find me and I might be left behind by the MOH driver who will pick us up from the airport..:eek: So for those first timers, ask other Filipina nurses what are the things to be done just before the flight so that you will be informed and can avoid commotion like what I have experienced.

I am just wondering why the POEA during the PDOS didn't explain everything from A-Z. Hayy, anyway what to say?

Then from the immigration, I was told by my friend, a driver will take us temporarily from the airport and send us to a accommodation. Then we traveled almost an hour.. As we passed through the airport, and travel to the road, I started to see the vast yellow orange color of the sand around, I had a mix feeling of sadness ? and a feeling of being "trapped" but I told myself "forget about the drama, I went here to work and earn". There we reached the accommodation full of other Filipino nurses and other nationalities (most of them Indians)

The food and water are free and the moment we reach KSA we are already being paid at that time even if we didn't reach our hospital assignment. I met some more friends there.. Then we were told to wait until the manager in the accommodation find hospital assignments for us. Day 1,2,3,4 came, still we were in the accommodation, we were a little bit nervous because we are five there left in the accommodation. On the fifth day, we finally receiver our hospi assignments. My other three friends got different hospital, me and another friend got the same hospital. :cheers:

The driver from our hospital assignment took us from the temporary accommodation. Then we started to travel more kilometers. I can remember me and my friend were almost not breathing at that time because of nervousness as we saw we are in the midst travelling in a vast dessert sand, so wide and endless space I can never imagined. She called her boyfriend all throughout the journey and described everything she saw along the way, making herself ready to shout and ask for help in case something bad will happen to us. hahaha!! But fortunately, we reached there after 1 hour and 45 minutes, nothing happened to us, the driver was nice and even friendly. We can't do nothing but say "shukran!"(one of the very few arabic words we know) and smile at him as a sign of gratitude from giving us a safe journey.

There we finally met the chief nurse of our hospital including the other nurses in the accommodation. They gave us a good welcome and directed us to our rooms. That was Thursday, we were told to attend the orientation on Saturday, the start of the week in KSA.

Finally Saturday came, the chief nurse oriented us inside the hospital and introduced us to the staff. Then morning was over, we were told to eat our lunch. As I was busy looking on my notes, I heard the chief nurse was calling my name. She came and a bit hesitant to tell something to me, then she finally told me, "You will be assigned in a PHC". :bluecry1:

I was teary eyed, confused and didn't know what to feel at that time, especially when I learned that there is only one nurse assigned on that PHC, and I have to travel again to reach the place, which I have no idea what it looks like. I pleaded again to the Chief N if she can do something about it, but she told me, it was the order of the hospital director. ?

(that is how they employ MOH-nurses here, They accumulate first the nurses in the temporary accommodation-give assignments to hospitals/PHC which are in bad need of nurses. Luckily I got the PHC).

Finally another driver took me with his wife (don't travel alone with the driver- this is a rule for the safety of nurses) from the hospital and traveled again. Finally from afar I saw a small group of houses ( communities in far places here are like mushrooms, they are kilometers away from each other separated by dessert). Then I learned I reached my place.

It was a PHC( primary health care facility) with male, female nursing rooms, vaccination, pharmacy. My accommodation is on the second floor of the PHC. If there is an emergency nurses go down and attend the patient especially with doctor's order.

Actually, my job here is by far more relaxed but being a young nurse, I wish for a busier environment of a hospital for a better training, and for the qualification I need to work someday in the US as they only accept nurses with tertiary or 100 and above bed capacity hospital experience. Anyway haaaaayy what to say again.. In general the safe is place, but of course all precautions must be observed. I must say I am just a strong person :banghead:, the reason why I can tolerate the new environment. I also need to learn good arabic because patients are speaking only in arabic, no other languages. With my foreign co-workers, I speak only in English (not even one Filipina here, only one indian nurse) which make me prepared a bit for my IELTS exam..

I received 3150 during my first year but on my second year, my salary reduced to 2587 SR , :madface::banghead: for the reason that my documents indicates that I have no hospital experience (actually I have 1 year and 9 months hospital experience in the Philippines, it is just POEA only accept 2 years and above experience before they authenticate COEs.

Now I'm almost two years here in my current place. I already learned to adjust. I plan to resign after three years of staying here, study masters for 1 year and a half in the Philippines and reapply again in POEA hoping for a better assignment. Inshallah.

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@pangarapnanatupad Wow, thank you for sharing your experiences. I also wanted to apply in Saudi but sad to say, 1 year working exp. Is required. I'm NLE 2009 board passer and still unemployed. T_T

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@ pangarapnanatupad

How did you bypassed the 2 year work experience requirement? Are you still assigned in the PHC?

Well your story is quite scary for me! Haha! Not knowing were you will be assigned (hospital and ward assignment) for 5 days? Haha I'm starting to feel a bit of security to the agency I was referring in my previous post. The only difference is the salry. SR 3100 is a lot better thant SR 2250.

Now I understand that even if you were hired by MOH, there is no assurance that you will get your salary on time. Some even wait upto 6 months before they were able to get their previous month's salary. Also, you there is also no guarantee of knowing your hospital area and ward assignment. I can't imagine that they are sending new hired applicants in PHC. It's MOH so I assume that they will place you in a hospital...

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metzembaum said:
@ lyfer

My friend was also interviewed last Nov.2010 and like you she didn't received any text from SRO. Her friend went to SRO and ask what had happened because during the interview the interviewers told them that they passed. SRO told them that they ran out of job orders because it was given alphabetically. My friend's last names starts at y and v. What's your last name? SRO told them to wait for the next delegation and they told them that those who applicants who didn't receive their JOs will be prioritized...So that means you will just have to wait and pray and have faith..=)

Hm...I don't get their reason. I don't want to say they are lying but I don't think they are giving JOs alphabetically. A friend of mine with surname starting "G" was texted for medical referral, while my other two friends with surnames "C" and also another "G" weren't contacted (including me). And all of us were interviewed on the same day. That's why I never had the idea of this alphabetical order dispatching of JOs. In my opinion. I think they based it on area of specialization or how the interviewer liked the applicant, hehe=D Anyway, let's just be patient, keep our hopes and don't lose our faith=)

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chadlie said:
@lyfer Thank you also! May I know where can I get job info in KSA?

You're welcome. I apologize for my late replies..I'm having issues with this consent from moderator first before they post my messages, so technically, most of my messages were posted after several hours..I don't know why? Is this some kind of probationary issue?

Anyway, you can try checking workabroad.com.ph. There are job openings that are regularly posted in that site, not only in KSA, but also in other countries. Just navigate in the site, you can search by specialization (job), by countries, or by agencies. And..uhm..also you can broaden your info by reading other forums. There's another forum I know which you can locate in POEA website, try to visit that. I got most of my info from there when I was just starting=)

Good luck.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
You're welcome. I apologize for my late replies..I'm having issues with this consent from moderator first before they post my messages, so technically, most of my messages were posted after several hours..I don't know why? Is this some kind of probationary issue?

Anyway, you can try checking workabroad.com.ph. There are job openings that are regularly posted in that site, not only in KSA, but also in other countries. Just navigate in the site, you can search by specialization (job), by countries, or by agencies. And..uhm..also you can broaden your infos by reading other forums. There's another forum I know which you can locate in POEA website, try to visit that. I got most of my infos from there when I was just starting=)

Good luck.

The forum is moderated and therefore all posting in this forum have to be reviewed by a staff member first. Doesn't matter when they are reviewed and approved they will keep the same time stamp to when it was originally posted not when it was approved.

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@pangarapnanatupad

What a nice, interesting, inspiring story you got. I actually almost mistaken you for someone I knew when I got in KSA for the first time. Because like you, only 5 of us we're the only Filipinos left in the transient for 3-4 days. Some other Filipinos were picked-up earlier on the 1st and 2nd day. We got separated into 2 groups on our last day in the transient: 2 were taken to a hospital in Riyadh City while the 3 of us were assigned in a remote hospital in Riyadh region (province).

It was a horrifying experience for us, because it's already dark, we traveled 4-5 hours in the wilderness, we couldn't see the road, we can't read the names of the place we passed through, and last but not the least, the driver stopped in a place where there is like a row of single rooms!! We really freaked out and called the only Filipina we met at the airport. She's also working under MOH for years already, and she helped us a lot and gave us helpful info during our stay in the transient. We talked to her in frightened voices and told her of our situation, she then talked to the driver, and then she translated the driver's intention. The driver simply wanted to treat us a meal, but we're still so scared that we strongly refused the offer. He then left us in the van, and like paranoid crazy girls, we took a video of our surroundings, and carefully observed the guys roaming around our van. The driver returned, and we head on to our long trip. Finally, we reached the hospital, and there, we were welcomed by a guy who wears a typical white arabic dress. Even with his warm welcome, we still couldn't smile back at him becauase of our paranoia.

After we picked-up the pillows, comforter, and bedsheets from the hospital, the driver then took us to the hostel. That's the only time we finally felt safe!

The matron in the hostel explained to us that the driver is really naughty, but she assured that he is nice and protective. Well..no one could actually feel safe because that country is really famous for many rape and murder cases in the dessert??

But while chatting with some other Filipinas, we got shock after we learned that some of them traveled alone with the driver, and one of them accepted the offer to have dinner! I mean, "whoa, that was really freaking scary"!

My only advice for first timers under MOH..when you reached the KSA airport, passed through the immigration, and got your luggage: don't roam around; don't travel by yourself especially in a TAXI (could be your 1st and final mistake), don't go with any stranger (guy or girl) unless he/she present you your passport (immigration collects them upon your arrival and gives it only to those with proof that they are the one who will pick you up). Join with other Filipinas while waiting in the airport, in that way opportunist will have no guts of doing any wicked ideas.('__,^)

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banchan said:
I can't imagine that they are sending new hired applicants in PHC. It's MOH so I assume that they will place you in a hospital...

Uhm, a nurse under MOH can only assume that there is a high probability to be assigned in a remote area hospitals or PHC and yes, even first timers or newly hired nurses in the kingdom isn't exempted.

The only assurance you can have that you will not go in PHC is if it's written in your Offer of Appointment that you will be designated under HOP. But, there's still a small probability that your slot for that job may be given to a Saudi citizen without prior notice, and therefore, might put you again somewhere else.

It's really annoying..but that's one of the things nursing applicants to MOH should expect..or be ready for.

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@lyfer

Nice to know that we have almost the same experience except that you were not assigned in a PHC. I hope you already adjusted in your place.

Yes it is true, if you are purely MOH hired applicant, get ready for the chance of being assigned in a PHC. Actually there are three types of PHCs. There are tertiary PHCs equipped with x-ray, dental, OB, laboratory, secondary PHCs which are moderately sized PHCs, and small PHCs, like my PHC, only the basics are present, endless wound dressing :D, some injections, VS taking, assisting in sutures....

We are 60km away from the nearest hospital which is 45 minutes drive and from Riyadh, we are 1 hour and 45 minutes drive away.

And one more thing, my food is not free. I expected initially that it'd be free but anyway the rest are free, house, water, electricity.

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