Working as a Hospital Pharmacist in Jeddah

King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital is where Sean works as a clinical pharmacist. He’s only one of a handful of Americans employed there. It is a military hospital which is under the Ministry of Defense and Aviation. The Director of Defense is Mohammad bin Salman, so…basically Sean’s boss is the Crown Prince of Saudi. 😁
::
The hospital has 427 beds (according to the webpage, but Sean thinks they have expanded more since that number was posted) and is renowned throughout the country for their cardiac unit. However, not just anybody can go here – it’s reserved for members of the Saudi Armed Forces, their families, employees and employee families. Also, all treatment is free. If someone wanted a procedure that was deemed unnecessary, like some cosmetic surgery, they would need to go to a different hospital where they likely would have to pay. But all preventative care, general care, and emergencies are treated here.
::
We chose not to have our babies at King Fahad for a myriad of reasons, but we get all of their vaccinations there and we’ve used their emergency clinic for other immediate health concerns. It’s a relief to not have cost as a factor when determining if we should take our son to get a rash checked out, or for me to see someone about a bug bite.
::
Sean enjoys his job, gets along well with coworkers, and appreciates that all hospital business is conducted in English (at least it’s supposed to be). He has been instrumental in instituting a pharmacy residency program and running a warfarin clinic for outpatient appointments (with a translator by his side bc the doctors speak English but most patients don’t).
::
I’m thankful that he gets a decent amount of vacation time (2x what he got in the US) and a housing stipend in addition to his salary, which is comparable to what clinical pharmacists make in the US.