"Are you on any medications …?"
In my summer article "Getting Personal," I introduced some of the delicate questions that we have to ask our candidates (usually on the very first phone call). Weight, salary, marital status, religion and health are all potential deal-breakers when it comes to obtaining employment in the Middle East. Many people are also surprised when we ask if they are on any medications or anti-depressants.
I am not talking about vitamins or OTC drugs, such as the occasional ibuprofen or acetaminophen. Even certain medications for diabetes, thyroid, or high blood pressure may not be a problem, with several caveats: a) that your condition is well controlled; b) that you do not have multiple health concerns; c) that you are not on too many different kinds of drugs.
It’s no secret that more and more of us are using anti-depressants to help us through situations, which in the past would have been considered a normal part of life. Relationships end, our parents die, we need help to sleep or we want to stop smoking. But also, there are new drugs that are effective in the treatment of many psychological disorders. However, despite their prevalence in the West, hospitals in the Middle East will not make job offers to individuals who are taking any kind of anti-depressant, mood elevator, or anti-psychotic medicine. Also, the Saudi Embassy will not issue employment visas for individuals on these medications.
The hospitals within the Arabian Peninsula have found, from years of experience, that when people with an underlying condition, such as depression, are uprooted from their home and support systems to a totally new environment (new job, friends, country, culture, food, procedures, etc.) some do not easily adapt and may even suffer a setback. Therefore, if someone on psychiatric medications applies for a position in Saudi Arabia (or in any of the other countries of the Arabian Peninsula), the hospitals require that the person successfully be off the psychiatric medications for at least six months, and have a letter from their family doctor describing why, and how long, they were on the medication, that they no longer require the medication, and that they are fit for overseas employment.
We understand that this information is personal, and why, occasionally, people are not forthcoming on the telephone. This is why, as a part of the initial application process, we ask candidates to complete a health questionnaire, listing their health problems, hospitalizations and medication use. It is very important that we identify any health-related issues, which may disqualify someone, early on in the recruitment process. In some cases, when this information is not disclosed to us, the candidate’s health/medication issues are discovered only after they have complete the required medical exams for the visa application. By this time, the candidate will have been offered a position, completed all of the required paperwork (including tracking down old references, transcripts, degrees, etc.), and may have already started making arrangements for their relocation. It is severely disappointing for them, and for us, when we have to tell them they cannot go.
To those yet to endure our personal queries, I assure you that there is good purpose to our forward questions. So to you, and everyone else beginning an introduction to Middle Eastern employment: I wish you good health.
Helen Ziegler
November 2009
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