Sunday – Friday 8am to 8pm
Sunday – Friday 8am to 8pm
Riyadh is Saudi Arabia's capital and its largest hospital market, home to King Faisal Specialist Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, and Dr Sulaiman Al Habib's Olaya complex. We match internationally trained doctors to these hospitals and handle SCFHS licensing, which covers the whole Kingdom from one application.
Riyadh is Saudi Arabia's business, political, and healthcare capital, and it holds the largest concentration of hospitals in the country. The city runs a dense mix of Ministry of Health complexes, military and National Guard medical cities, university medical centres, and large private groups, so a doctor moving here has more employer options than anywhere else in the Kingdom. That range is the reason many international doctors start their Saudi search in the capital.
Licensing works the same way across the country. One SCFHS licence covers the whole Kingdom, so a doctor licensed for a Riyadh role can later move to Jeddah or the Eastern Province on the same registration. Our medical job consultancy in Saudi Arabia sets out the national SCFHS process in full, while this page focuses on Riyadh's hospitals and working picture.
The hospitals below are the ones Allocation Assist works with in Riyadh, drawn from the government, military, university, and private sectors. Each is described as the group presents it.
A JCI-accredited tertiary and quaternary hospital opened in 1975, with 1,600 beds and 28 health outreach centres. It is a centre of excellence for oncology, organ transplantation, cardiovascular diseases, neurosciences, and genetic diseases, and houses the King Abdullah Center for Oncology and Liver Disease.
The largest facility of the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, with a total capacity of 1,973 beds. It houses the King Abdulaziz Cardiac Center, an Organ Transplant Center, and a Liver Center.
A JCI-accredited complex of four hospitals with 1,200 beds combined: the Main Hospital, the Women's Specialized Hospital, the Children's Specialized Hospital, and the Rehabilitation Hospital.
Formerly Riyadh Military Hospital, a multispecialty complex under the Ministry of Defence with 1,192 beds, including the Prince Sultan Cardiac Center.
Established its Olaya Medical Complex in Riyadh in 1985. It includes American Board, Canadian, and European Fellowship consultants, and comprises a fully integrated Maternity Hospital, a Bone, Joint and Spine Surgery Hospital, a Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Centre, an Ophthalmology and Laser Vision Correction Centre, and a Specialised Infertility Treatment Centre, alongside its Arryan, Al Takhassusi, and Al Sweidi hospitals.
See which Riyadh roles fit your specialty and check your SCFHS eligibility.
Allocation Assist also works with King Saud University Medical City, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz University Hospital, King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, King Abdullah Specialized Children's Hospital, the Women's Health Specialist Hospital, Dallah Hospital, and Saudi German Hospital Riyadh. The Riyadh hospitals guide profiles each in full.
Working in Riyadh means practising in the country's administrative and financial centre, where the largest and most specialised hospitals sit and where the widest range of consultant and subspecialty roles is found. For many doctors, the draw is clinical: the capital's referral hospitals handle the most complex cases in the Kingdom, and its research and teaching institutions offer academic and career progression alongside practice.
The city is a large, modern metropolis with established expatriate communities, international schools, and family housing across its districts. Salaries are tax-free, so pay is received in full, and packages typically add accommodation or a housing allowance, annual flights, and medical insurance, which supports doctors relocating with families.
Riyadh doctors register through the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, the single national regulator, using the same route as the rest of the Kingdom. The steps are Mumaris Plus registration, DataFlow primary source verification, professional classification, the Prometric exam where it applies, and final registration once a hospital makes an offer.
Training in the UK, Ireland, France, the USA, Canada, Australia, or Saudi Arabia generally means exemption from the exam and direct classification at specialist or consultant grade. DataFlow runs to around six to eight weeks, and a first-time application takes roughly five to eight months in total, less for exam-exempt doctors. For the full stage-by-stage detail, documents, and fees, see the SCFHS licensing guide.
Salaries in Riyadh are tax-free and negotiated by specialty, grade, and employer, with no single national scale. Government, National Guard, and military hospitals run structured pay with strong benefits, and the private groups set packages individually, often with performance-linked elements on top. Most packages carry accommodation or a housing allowance, annual flights, medical insurance, and end-of-service benefits.
Consultant and senior surgical posts sit at the upper end, and a given grade earns broadly in line with the rest of the Kingdom. The Saudi salary guides break the numbers down by specialty and career stage.
One SCFHS licence and one team can put you forward across Riyadh and the rest of the Kingdom together. The consultancy checks your eligibility and grade, confirms early whether you are exam-exempt, prepares your file to the SCFHS checklist, and sends your CV to Riyadh hospitals while DataFlow is still processing. The hiring hospital pays the placement fee, so nothing is charged to the doctor, and the same team stays with you from eligibility through licensing, interviews, and the contract.
Book a free consultation to confirm your SCFHS classification and hear which Riyadh hospitals are recruiting in your specialty. The team reviews your qualifications, tells you whether you qualify for exam exemption, and sets out your Mumaris Plus and licensing timeline in one call.
Our office is located in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai. Consultations run in person at the office, or by phone and video for doctors still overseas, Sunday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, so your licensing and interviews can begin before you relocate.
Allocation Assist Middle East
Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Phone: +971 4 273 3477
Hours: Sunday to Friday, 8am to 8pm
Founder and CEO, Allocation Assist Middle East. Emilie founded Allocation Assist in 2015 after seeing how much internationally trained doctors needed clear, reliable guidance to relocate and license in the UAE. She graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with First Class Honours in Nursing and worked in the Acute Medical Unit and Emergency Department at Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust before founding the consultancy.
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