Ethics, Professionalism and Remediation Courses for Healthcare Practitioners in Saudi Arabia

Most people arrive with one of three things on their desk. Each needs a different starting point, so begin with the one that matches yours.

If you are not sure which body holds your file, read the notice again for the name of the committee, the article of the Law it mentions and the date it was served. Those three details decide almost everything that follows.

A complaint opens a process. It is not a finding, and many complaints are closed once the facts are looked at. What you do early on still matters, because it shapes the record the investigators and any committee will read.

1. Read the notice for dates. Under Article 40 of the Law the investigation should finish within 30 days, extendable once by 30 days. Note when you were told and when your statement is due.
2. Tell your employer. The Executive Regulations make your employer the address where notices are served, so the facility usually knows first. Ask for copies of anything sent about you.
3. Check your malpractice cover. Physicians and dentists must hold cooperative malpractice insurance under Article 41. Find out how your insurer wants to be told about a claim.
4. Leave the medical record alone. Investigators work from the record as it stood. A genuine late addition should be clearly labelled and dated under facility policy.
5. Write a private timeline for your adviser while the day is fresh: who was there, what you saw, what you decided and why.
6. Do not contact the patient or family about the complaint unless your adviser and facility agree, and do not discuss it online.

The investigating body may also bar an accused practitioner from travel for 30 days, extendable by a further 30, and the practitioner may object. If travel matters to you, raise it with your adviser at once.

When an investigation finishes, the file goes to one of two bodies set up under the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions. They ask different questions.

Disciplinary penalties under Article 32 run from a warning, to a fine of up to SAR 10,000, to cancelling the licence and removing the practitioner from the register, with no new application for two years.

Neither body publishes a list of courses it wants to see, and no course can decide your case. What practitioners can do is show, in their own words and with evidence, that they understand the concern and have acted on it.

• Understanding of the standard. Name the duty involved, whether it comes from the Law, the SCFHS Code of Ethics or the MOH consent guidelines, and explain it plainly.
• Insight without defensiveness. Say what you would do differently and why, without blaming the patient, colleagues or the system.
• Targeted learning. Courses chosen because they match the concern, not because they were cheap or quick.
• Changes in practice. A new checklist, a changed consent routine, an audit of your own records, a talk with your head of department.
• A dated plan. What you will keep doing and how someone can check it.

Our insight course and reflective practice course teach how to write this down without wording that reads as a legal admission. Take advice on what you submit.

1. Name the concern. Write one sentence describing what the notice alleges, in plain words.
2. Choose an anchor course. If you face a committee or the panel, start with the 4-hour core course. For a first complaint, start with the 937 response course.
3. Add one or two topic courses that match the concern itself: consent, records, prescribing, boundaries, social media and so on.
4. Complete the reflective account template at the end of each course, tying what you learned to what happened.
5. Build your plan with the remediation plan course, so your learning has dates and a way to check it.
6. Keep your certificates and reflections together, ready for your adviser, employer or committee.

A five-course set of the core course, the 937 response course, insight, reflection and remediation planning costs SAR 1,285 before the cart saving and SAR 1,110 after it.

SCFHS registration lasts two years, and CPD hours are checked when you apply to re-register through Mumaris Plus. SCFHS lists 20 hours for technicians, 40 for specialists, 40 for pharmacists and 60 for doctors. If the hours are short, SCFHS renews for one year only, and that concession can be used once.

Our courses do not carry SCFHS CPD hours. SCFHS decides how any learning counts towards your registration, and you can apply to SCFHS to have learning recognised through the Recognition of CPD Hours service on Mumaris Plus, which costs SAR 100 and takes 30 business days. SCFHS looks at relevance and depth for your field.

Many practitioners still choose ethics and professionalism learning between renewals because it is the area most complaints touch: consent, confidentiality, communication, social media and honesty in records. The SCFHS CPD hours guide explains the renewal steps in full.

Saudi practice brings different risks to each profession, so each has its own pages.

Health specialists and technicians include laboratory, radiology, physiotherapy and other therapy roles, public health and health administration, as SCFHS groups them.

Practitioners who trained elsewhere sometimes meet rules that work differently from home. These come up again and again in MOH releases and in the Law itself.

• Self-promotion and adverts. Article 10 bars self-advertising except as the Regulations allow, and breaches can bring fines of up to SAR 50,000. MOH has suspended licences over social media promotion, including a case in June 2026.
• Filming or photographing patients. Publishing procedures needs the patient's written consent and facility approval. MOH referred several practitioners in late 2024 over clips showing patients.
• Working outside your specialty. Article 9 limits you to your specialty except in emergencies. An April 2024 suspension partly rested on this.
• Commissions and gifts. Article 12 bars rewards for steering patients to pharmacies, labs or hospitals, and benefits from drug or device companies.
• Consent for minors. Under the MOH consent guidelines, from 15 to 18 both the young person and the guardian consent unless the intervention is urgent.
• Sick leave and reports. False sick leave and reports are prohibited under Article 14.

Four guides explain the processes behind the courses, with links to the Law, SCFHS and MOH sources.

• 937 patient complaints and MOH investigations: how a complaint is filed, routed and investigated, and what you can expect to be asked.
• Health Violations Committee and Sharia Health Panel: who sits on each body, what each hears, the penalties and the appeal dates.
• Medical malpractice and liability in Saudi Arabia: what counts as malpractice under the Law, compensation and compulsory malpractice insurance.
• SCFHS CPD hours and registration renewal: hours by category, Mumaris Plus, recognition of hours and the link to your MOH licence.

Every course is written around Saudi sources: the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions and its Executive Regulations, the SCFHS Code of Ethics, the MOH consent guidelines, the Personal Data Protection Law and SFDA guidance where relevant.

Prices follow study time: SAR 229 for 2 hours, SAR 279 for 3 hours and SAR 319 for the 4-hour core course. The cart takes SAR 115 off when you buy 3 or more courses, SAR 175 off at 5 or more, and SAR 290 off at 10 or more.

• Online and self-paced, on any device, with 12 months' access from purchase.
• Short knowledge checks through each course, built around Saudi scenarios.
• A scenario-based final assessment of 20 questions, or 30 for the 4-hour core course, with an 80% pass mark.
• A certificate of completion showing the course title, study time and date.
• A reflective account template to tie the learning to your own practice or case.

A course can help you understand the standard behind a concern, reflect on what happened and show what you have changed. It cannot decide your case, and it is not legal advice.

SCFHS decides how any learning counts towards your registration, and a committee or panel decides how much weight to give any evidence you put forward. If your case involves compensation, a possible licence penalty or a travel bar, speak to a lawyer who practises in Saudi Arabia.