In force
Saudi Healthcare Professions Practice Law
نظام مزاولة المهن الصحية
The Healthcare Professions Practice Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations for residents and businesses.
- Articles
- 44
- In force
- 44
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 4/11/1426 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م/59 بتاريخ 4 / 11 / 1426 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 276 بتاريخ 3 / 11 / 1426
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Healthcare Professions Practice Law by topic
Licensing the Practice of Healthcare Professions4 articlesDuties of the Healthcare Practitioner9 articlesProhibitions on Healthcare Practitioners5 articlesPatient Rights and Consent to Treatment5 articlesConfidentiality of Patient Information1 articleAbortion and Death Reports2 articlesDispensing Medicines and Prescriptions1 articleRelations Between Healthcare Practitioners2 articlesMedical Error and Compensation4 articlesMedical Sharia Authority5 articlesPenalty for Practicing Healthcare Professions Without a License3 articlesDisciplining the Healthcare Practitioner5 articlesFinal Provisions and Entry into Force3 articles
Articles of the Saudi Healthcare Professions Practice Law
- Article 1The article defines the Law's key terms: the healthcare practitioner and the professions covered, and the Minister, the Ministry and the Authority.
- Article 2The article prohibits practicing any healthcare profession without a license from the Ministry of Health, sets the licensing conditions, and treats government appointment as a license once registered with the Authority.
- Article 3The article refers the license period and the rules for visiting physicians to the Implementing Regulations, and requires license renewal for anyone who stopped practicing for two consecutive years other than for study and training.
- Article 4The article allows the Minister of Health, based on the public interest, to restrict licensing for one of the healthcare professions to Saudis only.
- Article 5The article requires the healthcare practitioner to practice for the benefit of the individual and society, respecting human life, safety and dignity, observing prevailing customs, and avoiding exploitation.
- Article 6The article requires the healthcare practitioner to assist the competent authorities in protecting public health and warding off the dangers that threaten it in peace and in war.
- Article 7The article requires the healthcare practitioner to develop their knowledge and follow developments in their specialty, requires facilities to facilitate their attendance at courses, and prohibits unrecognized or prohibited diagnosis and treatment methods.
- Article 8The article requires a healthcare practitioner who witnesses or knows that a patient or injured person is in a critical condition to give possible assistance or make sure the person receives the necessary care.
- Article 9The article requires medical work to aim always at the patient's interest, and prevents the healthcare practitioner from doing work beyond their specialty or means except in a case of necessity.
- Article 10The article prohibits the healthcare practitioner from advertising themselves or promoting themselves except in the cases set by the Regulations, and from listing scientific titles or specialties they have not lawfully obtained.
- Article 11The article requires the healthcare practitioner, immediately on examining a patient suspected of being injured by a crime or of having an infectious disease, to notify the competent security and health authorities; the Minister sets the diseases, the authority and the procedures.
- Article 12The article prohibits the healthcare practitioner from practicing more than one healthcare profession or a conflicting profession, and from commissions and benefits for promoting medicines or devices or directing patients.
- Article 13The article prohibits the healthcare practitioner, except in emergency cases, from carrying out examinations or treatment, for a fee or free of charge, in pharmacies or places not designated for it.
- Article 14The article lists prohibited acts for the healthcare practitioner, including employing unlicensed persons, selling medicines and samples, keeping medicines contrary to instructions, and using prohibited devices.
- Article 15The article requires the healthcare practitioner to carry out diagnosis with the necessary care using suitable technical means and those the case calls for, and to give the patient what they request about their condition and test results, accurately and objectively.
- Article 16The article allows the healthcare practitioner to decline to treat a patient for acceptable professional or personal reasons, except in critical or urgent cases.
- Article 17The article requires the treating practitioner to alert the patient to the need for a consultation and to agree to the patient's request for one, and allows the practitioner to decline to continue treatment if they see no need for it or disagree with the consultant.
- Article 18The article requires the practitioner to alert the patient or relatives to follow instructions and warn them of the consequences of not doing so, and leaves the physician to judge whether to disclose an incurable or life-threatening illness unless the patient forbids it or names who may be told.
- Article 19The article requires patient consent or that of a representative or guardian before any medical work, requires intervention without consent in the specified emergency cases, and prohibits ending the life of a patient with no medical hope of recovery.
- Article 20The article prohibits the physician from giving a death report before confirming the cause of death, or at all if a criminal cause is suspected, in which case the physician must immediately notify the authorities.
- Article 21The article requires the healthcare practitioner to keep patient secrets, and defines when disclosure is allowed, such as reporting a criminal death or infectious disease, with the secret-holder's written consent, or by judicial order.
- Article 22The article prohibits the physician from aborting a pregnant woman except to save her life, or before four months if a medical committee decision establishes that continuing the pregnancy seriously threatens the mother's health.
- Article 23The article sets out the pharmacist's prohibitions in managing pharmacies and dispensing prescriptions, allows dispensing a composition-equivalent substitute with the patient's consent, and requires a pharmacy technician to work under a pharmacist's supervision.
- Article 24The article requires relations among healthcare practitioners to rest on cooperation and trust, and prohibits scheming against a colleague, belittling them, repeating harmful rumors, or attracting their patients or staff.
- Article 25The article requires a healthcare practitioner who replaces a colleague in treating their patients not to exploit that position for personal benefit and to refrain from anything that harms the colleague.
- Article 26The article provides that the healthcare practitioner's obligation is an obligation to exercise vigilant care consistent with accepted scientific principles.
- Article 27The article obliges the practitioner to compensate for any professional healthcare error that harms the patient, has the Health Sharia Authority set the amount, lists forms of error, and voids conditions limiting or excusing liability.
- Article 28The article punishes with imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of up to SAR 100,000, or either, offenses such as practicing without a license, impersonating titles, refusing treatment, and trafficking in organs.
- Article 29The article punishes with a fine of up to SAR 50,000 anyone who violates Articles 10, 12 and 13 and paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e) of Article 14.
- Article 30The article punishes with a fine not exceeding SAR 20,000 any violation of the Law or its Implementing Regulations for which the Law has no specific penalty.
- Article 31The article makes the healthcare practitioner subject to disciplinary accountability if they breach their duties under the Law, violate the principles of their profession, or act contrary to its requirements or ethics, without prejudice to criminal or civil liability.
- Article 32The article sets the disciplinary penalties: a warning, a fine not exceeding SAR 10,000, and cancellation of the license and removal of the name; a new license may not be applied for until two years after cancellation.
- Article 33The article establishes the Health Sharia Authority, chaired by a judge, with legal, medical and pharmacy members, limits the two pharmacy members to pharmacy cases, and seats it at the Ministry of Health in Riyadh with possible regional bodies.
- Article 34The article gives the Health Sharia Authority jurisdiction over professional healthcare errors for which a private-right claim is made, and over errors causing death or loss of an organ or its function, even without a private claim.
- Article 35The article provides that the Health Sharia Authority convenes with all its members present, decides by majority including the judge, and that a grievance may be filed with the Board of Grievances within sixty days of notification.
- Article 36The article provides that the public prosecution before the Health Sharia Authority is represented by employees designated by a decision of the Minister of Health.
- Article 37The article provides that a public-right claim is not heard after one year from the date of knowledge of the professional healthcare error, and refers the rules of knowledge to the Implementing Regulations.
- Article 38The article makes violations arising from applying the Law, apart from the Health Sharia Authority's jurisdictions, a matter for committees formed by the Minister, and allows a grievance before the Board of Grievances within sixty days.
- Article 39The article allows the Minister to order the temporary suspension of a practitioner when there are evidence and indications of a violation punishable by license cancellation, while ensuring patient care, and allows a grievance before the Board of Grievances within thirty days.
- Article 40The article refers to the Implementing Regulations the rules and procedures needed to hear violations and cases arising from applying the Law, and the ways of deciding them.
- Article 41The article makes cooperative insurance against medical professional errors mandatory for physicians and dentists, and requires institutions to guarantee compensation awarded by final judgment if coverage is absent or insufficient.
- Article 42The article repeals the law on practicing human medicine and dentistry and the law on practicing pharmacy and trading in medicines and medical preparations, and every provision that conflicts with this Law.
- Article 43The article authorizes the Minister of Health to issue the Law's Implementing Regulations, publish them in the Official Gazette, and issue the decisions and instructions needed to implement it.
- Article 44The article provides that the Law is published in the Official Gazette and takes effect sixty days after the date of its publication.