Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih has announced that primary health care centers across the Kingdom will revert to the one-shift work system from Sunday through Thursday. The decision will come into effect from the month of Safar of the Islamic calendar, the ministry announced Sunday. The shift will last for eight hours from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. with an hours break in the middle if work conditions permit. The shift can also be extended if needed for an extra half an hour which will duly be compensated. The working hours of the administrative staff will remain as they are from 7.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. five days a week from Sunday through Thursday. Currently, health care centers in the Kingdom follow the two-shift work system with a continuous nine-hour shift from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. without a break or a split shift starting from 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and again from 4.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Health care workers in the split shift system stand to benefit the most from the decision. They had to go home at midday and come back to the center again in the afternoon to work till the evening, an observer told Arab News.

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Health care centers to work one shift