Accord signed for postgraduate medical training in Britain

The Kingdom and Britain signed an executive agreement on Wednesday in Riyadh on medical training for Saudi postgraduate students on specialized subjects.

The agreement was signed by Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih and Minister of State for Community and Social Care at the Department of Health Alistair Burt.
Health Ministry spokesman Faisal Al-Zahrani said that the accord aims to provide appropriate training for doctors and specialists to be on par with British medical standards.
The signing ceremony took place during the sixth meeting of the Saudi-British Joint Ministerial Committee on Health Affairs held at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh on Wednesday.
Medical men from both sides including university professors, British embassy diplomats and senior Saudi officials including Deputy Health Minister Hamad Al-Dhewalia were present.
Al-Zahrani said the meeting discussed a number of topics and projects, particularly training of health cadres; a new project to upgrade and enhance the quality of health systems; cooperation in the field of health research; application of electronic medical records system in primary health care; and training of health personnel in the area of primary care.
“They also discussed a project to upgrade the performance of the contract and partnership between private and public sectors in the two countries, and project cooperation in the field of treatment and control of blood diseases and cancer,” he said. According to British Ambassador Simon Collis, over the last decade more than 100,000 Saudi students studied at United Kingdom universities and colleges and he said he looked forward to welcoming many more.
In an earlier statement, the envoy said that there are 15,000 students currently studying at various universities and colleges in the United Kingdom, with women making up one-third. 
He said that the two countries are enjoying excellent bilateral relations. “This could be further improved with the new Saudi leadership and the new government in the United Kingdom,” he said.
A recent QS global survey of 27,000 employers showed that UK degrees are highly valued worldwide. Graduates from Oxford and Cambridge were rated the most employable in the world, while the London School of Economics, Imperial College London and the University of Manchester all made the top 10.