Your World in the news: Good news for doctors as hiring picks up in UAE

"The number of positions available has increased dramatically from last year, in some areas by as much as 20 per cent," Neil Edwards, International Business Development Manager of the specialist medical recruitment consultancy Your World International in Dubai, told this website.

He said there has also been a sharp increase in job applications from the expat medical professionals for jobs advertised in the UAE.

"Compared to 2010, we are seeing an increasing number of applications for advertised positions in the medical sector this year. Month-on-month from December 2010 to February this year we’ve seen applications grow by 12 to 13 per cent, while year-on-year growth from February 2010 to February 2011 is around 12 per cent," he said.

The majority of the applications relate to positions like physiotherapists, dieticians, diabetes specialists, oncologists and cancer care specialists as these are in greater demand in the UAE, he said.According to a recent estimate by Mckinsey and Company, demand for hospital beds in the GCC region will more than double by 2025.

Huge investment is going on in the healthcare sector across the GCC, mainly in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, paving the way for the opening of a number of hospitals and healthcare facilities in the next 5 to 10 years in the region, Edwards added.

Around 250 to 400 new hospitals are expected to come online across the Gulf region, which would trigger a pent-up demand for healthcare professionals in general across the region, he said.

As a natural corollary to the increase in demand, he said, the salary and remuneration level too is expected to see an upward trend.

However, he said: "Despite the overall downturn seen during the last couple of years I don’t think the UAE and the GCC region saw any decline in the base salary level especially within the healthcare sector, but more of a stablisation of salaries."

Whilst during the pre-downturn years healthcare sector professionals were offered attractive packages and perks because of the high demand, the situation is slightly changed in the current circumstances in that the base salary has remained more or less the same while perks and other incentives have been withdrawn or reduced, especially in case of entry-level positions like nurses, healthcare assistants, etc, he said.

He continued: "This is largely because, as a result of the downturn, there are more candidates available in the market causing the base salary to remain stagnant or stable. But I don’t think there has been a massive drop in salaries across the board.

On the other hand, the supply of medical specialists or those holding supervisory or managerial roles, has often been in short supply compared to the demand in the region. As a result, their salary levels have not seen a decline or stagnation compared to those of the entry-level positions."

Unlike entry-level positions, there was no stagnation of salaries for those in more senior positions or specialist doctors because of their short supply, he said.