Ethics and Ethical Standards for Health Specialists and Technicians in Saudi Arabia

At a glance

The concerns this course addresses

Responding to a concern about scope, results, consent or safety

A complaint about a scan, a result or a procedure can feel personal. Reading it as a request for a clear account of a single event, and of what has changed since, is the more useful approach.

1. Get advice before you write

   Speak to your manager, your facility's legal or quality office or an adviser, and note any deadline in the letter. Allied staff are not in the compulsory malpractice insurance group, so ask your employer how you are covered.

   In the course: Section 9 explains the routes and bodies you may be dealing with.

2. Identify the duty that applied

   Name the article, regulation, Code chapter, MOH guideline or facility policy that covered the event, and read it in full rather than relying on memory or a summary.

   In the course: Sections 2 to 8 set out each duty, from scope in Section 2 to gifts and images in Section 8.

3. Write from the record

   Check the request form, consent record, result log, quality control entry or patient care report first, so your account matches what was documented. Describe events in the order they happened, with times.

   In the course: Section 8 covers honest records and corrections; Section 9 covers writing a response.

4. Acknowledge the patient's experience

   Say plainly what the patient or family went through and express regret without speculating or blaming colleagues. Include only the patient detail the reader needs.

   In the course: Section 9 explains what insight looks like in practice.

5. Show change that someone can check

   List what you changed, when it began and how it is checked, such as a revised pre-procedure checklist or a read-back log for critical results.

   In the course: Section 10 helps you write dated actions and the evidence you will keep.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. If a formal investigation, committee or panel is involved, ask a lawyer or your employer's legal department to review anything before it is sent.

How the course can help when a concern has been raised

• It names the duty behind the event

  Many responses say only that the practitioner will be more careful. The course links each situation to its source, so your account can show what the rule requires and why it protects patients.

• It gives you a pause you can show

  The point-of-care pause covers identity, request, consent and safety factors. Using it on later cases and noting the results gives a concrete record of how your routine has changed.

• It structures your reflection

  The final section walks you through what happened, why it mattered and what you now do differently. That order suits a note to a manager, a facility review or a formal response.

• It matches learning to the cause

  Learning carries weight when it fits the problem: rules for a knowledge gap, supervision for judgement, a changed process for a system weakness. The course helps you choose and record which applies.

Remediation evidence that carries weight

A remediation plan, phase by phase

1. First fortnight

   Advice and facts

   • Ask your manager or adviser what response and deadline apply, and note both.
   • Write a private chronology from the request form, log or care report rather than from memory.
   • Find the exact provision or facility policy that covered the event.

2. Weeks 3-6

   Understand the duty

   • Work through the sections that match the event and note what each changes.
   • Apply the pre-procedure pause or a graded speaking-up step to the event in writing.
   • Draft your reflective account and have an adviser read it before it goes anywhere.

3. Weeks 7-12

   Change what you do

   • Introduce one concrete change, such as read-back logging for critical results or a note of each chaperone offer.
   • Ask a senior colleague with no stake in the matter to observe several of your cases.
   • Keep anonymised examples of the change in use.

4. Months 4-12

   Keep it going

   • Add a measurable ethics goal to your CPD plan.
   • Check a sample of your own records or logs every quarter.
   • At the six-month point, revise your reflection to note what has worked and what has fallen short.

Writing your reflective statement

1. Describe the event

   State what happened, when, your role and the outcome, without identifying anyone.

   Example only: As a microbiology specialist on a night shift, I told a patient's son at the laboratory window that his mother's blood culture was positive, before the ward had been informed.

2. Name the principles in tension

   Name the principles that were in tension, and explain how you balanced them when the situation arose.

   Example only: I set the family's anxiety and my wish to be honest against confidentiality and the clinician's role, and I let compassion decide.

3. Identify the standard

   Name the provision, guideline or policy that applied and explain why it exists.

   Example only: Article 21 and Regulation 1-21 limit the file to the treating team and the patient, and our critical result procedure required a call to the responsible clinician first.

4. Acknowledge the impact

   Set out how the patient, the family, your colleagues and public trust in the service were affected.

   Example only: The son reached the ward before the doctor did, the patient heard the news from him, and the team lost the chance to explain it properly.

5. Explain what you learned

   Say what you had not understood or had stopped applying, and how that changed.

   Example only: I had treated a short answer at the window as kindness. I now see that it bypassed the patient's right to hear news from the clinician and the safety route for critical findings.

6. Describe the changes and how they are checked

   List specific changes, when they began and who reviews them.

   Example only: Since January I phone every critical result with read-back, log the name and time, and give callers a standard sentence about how results are shared. My supervisor reviews the log monthly.

These sentences are invented to show structure. Your account has to describe your own event honestly.

A weak and a strong response, side by side

Illustrative case. A CT technologist in a private hospital in Khobar scans an abdomen and pelvis at a doctor's verbal request, with no order on the system, and the patient later asks why he was scanned twice in one visit. The department reviews the exposure.

Why the second one works: The strong account says what happened, names the duty, accepts the effect on the patient and describes a change that someone else checks. The weak account passes responsibility to the doctor, relies on how common the practice is and offers only a promise that could be broken at the next request.

Mistakes practitioners make when responding

The rules this course works through

References are to the Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions and its Executive Regulations, the SCFHS Code and MOH guidelines, as covered in the course.

• Art. 9

  Scope and unnecessary procedures

  Act in the patient's interest, avoid unnecessary procedures and do not work outside your specialty except in an emergency.

  In the course: Sections 2 and 6 apply this to orders, scans and protocols.

• Art. 19

  Consent

  No intervention without the consent of the patient or, if the patient lacks capacity, a representative, except in a qualifying emergency. MOH guidelines add age bands and written-consent categories.

  In the course: Section 3 covers minors, capacity, interpreters and refusal.

• Art. 21

  Confidentiality

  Information learned through practice is confidential, with listed exceptions such as notifiable disease, crime, written consent and judicial orders.

  In the course: Section 5 covers access, results and the PDPL.

• Art. 11

  Statutory reporting

  Report injuries suspected to relate to a crime and cases of infectious disease to the authorities.

  In the course: Section 7 explains who reports and how.

• Art. 12

  Commissions and company benefits

  Nothing should be accepted for directing patients elsewhere, and nothing should be taken from drug or device companies. Breaches carry fines of up to SAR 50,000 under Article 29.

  In the course: Section 8 sets this beside the Code's rules on gifts and sponsorship.

• Reg. 3-5

  Photographing procedures

  Written patient consent and facility approval, or a recognised scientific purpose, are needed before procedures are photographed or published.

  In the course: Sections 5 and 8 cover images, messaging apps and social media.

Also relevant: Art. 5 on dignity; Art. 8 on emergency care before payment; Art. 10 and Reg. 9-1 on advertising; Art. 14 on false reports and unauthorised equipment; Arts. 26-27 on liability; Art. 7 and Regs. 1-6 and 2-6 on CPD; SCFHS Code Ch. 4, 8, 9 and 10.

How this applies in each allied health setting

How a complaint about an allied practitioner travels

A concern about scope, a result, a procedure or a safety lapse may begin at the facility, on 937 or as a formal claim. The stages below follow the Law and its Executive Regulations.

1. Complaint or claim

   A patient or relative complains to the facility or through 937, where the patient signs in with a national ID and confirms through Nafath. A harmed person, guardian or heirs may instead file a claim with the facility or the regional health affairs director under Article 40.

2. Facility review

   Many concerns about communication, dignity or results are first reviewed locally, and you may be asked for a written account and the records. Facility procedures vary, so ask for the policy that applies to you.

3. Investigation

   Where a formal investigation opens, your statement is taken and a committee report prepared. It should finish within 30 days, extendable once by 30. Travel can be barred for 30 days, extendable by 30, and you may object.

4. Referral or dismissal

   If the evidence is insufficient, dismissal may be recommended. Cases involving compensation, death or loss of an organ or its function go to the Sharia Health Panel. Other breaches, such as practising outside your specialty or advertising, go to the Committee for Violations of the Law.

5. Decision and appeal

   Notices are served through your employer and electronic hearings are allowed. Panel and committee decisions can be appealed to the Board of Grievances within 60 days of notification, and a ministerial suspension within 30 days.

Possible outcomes and what they mean for you

These are the penalties stated in the Law. Which one applies, if any, depends on the facts, and no course can predict it.

If your employer or a committee has asked for training

Using this course as CPD

Key terms explained

SCFHS

Mumaris Plus is run by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, which also classifies and registers practitioners and publishes the Code of Ethics.

Mumaris Plus

The SCFHS online portal for classification, registration, re-registration and recognition of CPD hours.

Professional classification

The SCFHS step that checks your qualifications and experience and assigns your category, such as technician or specialist.

Scope of practice

The tasks you may perform, set by qualification, classification, MOH licence and employer authorisation together.

Seha

Your employer uses this MOH platform to apply for your practising licence, renew it and transfer it.

937

A service centre and digital portal run by the MOH, where complaints about health services are logged and followed up.

Committee for Violations of the Law

A body set up by ministerial decision to hear breaches of the Law, apart from malpractice claims.

Sharia Health Panel

A panel led by a judge, which deals with compensation claims and with cases of death or the loss of an organ or its function.

SFDA

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority, which regulates medicines and medical devices and receives reports of device problems and adverse drug reactions.

PDPL

The Personal Data Protection Law, which treats health data as sensitive data and is overseen by SDAIA.

How this course is written and kept current

Page updated 2 November 2026

Our editorial standardsAbout usDisclaimer

Primary sources

The laws, codes and pages this page and the course rely on. Always check the current text with the issuing body.

1. Law of Practicing Healthcare Professions (MOH English text)moh.gov.sa
2. Executive Regulations of the Law (MOH, Arabic)moh.gov.sa
3. SCFHS Code of Ethics for Healthcare Practitionersscfhs.org.sa
4. MOH Saudi Guidelines for Informed Consent (2019)moh.gov.sa
5. SCFHS re-registration requirementsscfhs.org.sa
6. SCFHS Mumaris Plus FAQscfhs.org.sa
7. MOH patient rightsmoh.gov.sa
8. MOH 937 services (my.gov.sa)my.gov.sa
9. SDAIA guide to the Personal Data Protection Lawdgp.sdaia.gov.sa
10. SFDA guidance on reporting adverse drug reactionssfda.gov.sa