Mohammad Dawood

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman issued a royal order on Friday relieving Ahmed Al-Khatib from his post as minister of health and appointing Minister of State and Cabinet member Muhammad Bin Abdulmalik Bin Abdullah Al-Asheikh as acting health minister.



Al-Asheikh was born in Taif in 1969 and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Shariah law. He began his impressive career at the World Bank in 1998. He worked at a legal office in New York in 2001 and returned to the Kingdom in 2003 and worked as a legal consultant until 2012.



In 2012, he was appointed as the Kingdom’s representative at the World Bank in Washington and head of the Capital Market Authority.



Al Arabiya News on Saturday reported that a recently leaked video showed Al-Khatib involved “in a squabble”.



He was filmed having a heated argument with another citizen.



“In the 27-second video, the former minister is seen loudly dismissing a visibly angry citizen who had come to speak to him about the state of a private hospital in Riyadh,” wrote Al Arabiya News, adding that the incident generated many reactions on social media with one Twitter user, @ghazy188, writing: “Health minister sacked after neglecting the health of a citizen. Thank you King Salman.”



Another user, @yahia1423, said that the “dismissal of the Minister of Health is a message from King Salman for the rest of the officials.”