Healthcare in Saudi Arabia

The standard of healthcare is very high in Saudi Arabia, but as no free healthcare is provided for expats, health insurance is essential to cover the high costs of hospitalisation and treatment. It is advisable to negotiate private health insurance as part of one’s remuneration package.

There is a huge range of healthcare centres and hospitals to choose from. In Riyadh, the King Fahd Medical City is regarded as one of the best hospitals in the Middle East, while the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital is possibly the top ophthalmologic hospital in the world.

Medicines are freely available from pharmacies, in many cases without the prescription that one would require back home. A word of caution: be careful bringing medicine into the country without a prescription as the drug may be treated as an illegal narcotic.