Advancing Healthcare Education and Training in Saudi Arabia: Building a Skilled Medical Workforce

A government-affiliated healthcare training institute in Saudi Arabia tasked with expanding and improving the education of healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, and allied health workers) to meet the country’s growing needs.

232,000 expatriates (including ~60% of doctors and 57% of nurses) staffed the healthcare sector. Vision 2030 aimed to train 175,000 new Saudi health professionals. Yet domestic training programs were not producing enough graduates; curricula were outdated and lacked hands-on training. This led to a shortage of local medical staff and continued reliance on foreign workers. The client needed to rapidly expand and modernize training to build a self-sufficient workforce.

We developed a national healthcare workforce development strategy for the client. The solution addressed multiple levels of training: medical schools, nursing colleges, and on-the-job training for current health workers. We recommended establishing new medical and nursing colleges in regions with shortages, along with expanding enrollment capacity at existing institutions. The solution introduced modernized curricula focusing on practical skills, technology (e.g. health informatics, telemedicine), and local health needs (such as managing diabetes and heart disease). We designed a blueprint for a state-of-the-art Medical Simulation Center – a facility with simulation labs, virtual reality training tools, and standardized patient programs – to enhance clinical training for students and provide ongoing skill development for practitioners. To improve the quality of instruction, the plan included a faculty development program, offering local educators training and exchange opportunities with international medical schools to adopt best teaching practices. Additionally, we proposed expanding residency and fellowship programs in hospitals (especially in specialties like family medicine, emergency, and critical care) to increase the number of locally trained specialists. Finally, the solution emphasized robust continuing professional development (CPD) for existing healthcare workers, including e-learning platforms and mandatory training credits to ensure lifelong learning.

In formulating the plan, we conducted a comprehensive workforce gap analysis, projecting the supply and demand of doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals through 2030. We audited existing educational institutions – evaluating class sizes, graduation rates, curriculum content, and facilities – to identify capacity and quality gaps. We also surveyed students, educators, and hospital administrators to gather input on current challenges (for example, limited clinical rotation slots or outdated coursework). With this data, our team collaborated with officials from the Ministry of Education and Health to ensure alignment with national initiatives like the Health Sector Transformation Program. We engaged international experts in medical education to help design new curricula and simulation training modules customized for Saudi needs. A financial and operational plan was created for each recommendation (e.g. costing out a new nursing college and identifying faculty requirements). We also established key milestones and KPIs (such as number of graduates, exam pass rates, localization ratio of staff) to monitor progress. Throughout the approach, change management was key – we built consensus among stakeholders (universities, hospitals, regulators) through roundtable discussions and incorporated their feedback to refine the strategy.

Our recommendations were multi-faceted. To increase capacity, we advised opening two new medical colleges and four new nursing schools within five years, particularly in underserved regions, and incentivizing student enrollment with scholarships and stipends. We recommended overhauling curricula to be more competency-based and practice-oriented – for instance, increasing clinical rotation time, integrating modern topics like AI in healthcare, and teaching in team-based settings. We also urged the creation of a National Simulation Training Center to serve students from multiple institutions with high-fidelity simulation experiences. For existing healthcare workers, we suggested mandating a minimum number of CPD hours yearly and providing a unified online platform for courses. To boost faculty quality, we proposed a faculty scholarship program to send top Saudi faculty abroad for training, and recruiting distinguished international faculty on short-term contracts to mentor local educators. Additionally, we recommended expanding the Saudization efforts in the health sector – for example, setting gradual targets to reduce the expatriate ratio in certain specialties as local graduates become available – to ensure that training efforts translate into employment.

The implementation of our recommendations is starting to yield results. Enrollment in medical and nursing programs has surged, aided by government scholarships that we helped design, and new training institutions are in development. Within two academic years, the number of graduating nurses and physicians has begun to increase, helping narrow the workforce gap. The first phase of the Medical Simulation Center is now operational, providing hundreds of students and clinicians with realistic, hands-on training scenarios that significantly improve their clinical preparedness. Updated curricula are being rolled out nationwide – early feedback indicates that graduates are more skilled and job-ready, needing less ramp-up time when they start working. The institute’s faculty development initiatives have led to improved teaching techniques and the introduction of modern pedagogies (like problem-based learning). Hospitals are already reporting a slight decrease in reliance on expatriate hires as more qualified Saudi healthcare professionals enter the system. In time, these trends will help the country approach its Vision 2030 goal of a self-reliant healthcare workforce. By investing in human capital, Saudi Arabia is building a sustainable healthcare system staffed by well-trained nationals, and the client has become a central driver of this transformation.