Saudi: Jail treatment for doctors who issue false sick notes

February 10, 2014

Jeddah, Feb 10: Authorities in the Kingdom are set to implement new rules to give the right “treatment” to employees who have been misusing the provision of medical leave by producing bogus sick leave certificates in collusion with some medical practitioners.

What is more, doctors indulging in such unethical practices will be seen as the bigger partner in the crime, attracting harsher penalties than the employees, under the new rules and regulations.

This phenomenon of employees bunking office citing illness backed with a certificate, more so in the government sector than private enterprise, will become a thing of the past once the new rules are introduced sometime next month.

Under the new rules, scrutiny of sick certificate will no longer be an administrative procedure, but will in fact be a prescribed statutory procedure. Bureau of Investigations and Prosecution will file cases against such errant employees, and the medical practitioner will be held more accountable than leave-seeking employees.

Under the new rules, an employee caught producing a bogus certificate will be awarded punishment of three months and SR30,000 as penalty. In the case of the doctor who issued the certificate, it could be up to one year in prison and a penalty of up to SR100,000 or both.

“The new rule promotes ethical practice, prevents abuse or violation of sick leave norms and reduces productivity loss at workplace,” commented Mohammed A. Shatta, personnel manager at a leading company in Jeddah.

Speaking to Arab News, he said: “We receive dozens of medical certificates every day seeking exemption from deduction of salaries for absence. Most certificates are genuine but the reasons or the recommended duration of leave are suspect.”

He explained: “Once we detect the trend, we approach the hospitals concerned, and the occurrence goes down, but only for a while.”

He said that as per regulations, a specialist doctor from a private hospital can recommend sick leave from a day to three days while a consultant can grant sick leave up to five days. As for private clinics, their doctors are not allowed to recommend sick leave for more than a day.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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