AHSA, 13 May — The Health Affairs Department in Ahsa governorate has started an inquiry into the alleged illegal activities of a private clinic following a complaint. The clinic involved in the issue is one of the centers authorized by the Ministry of Health in the Ahsa governorate to examine expatriate workers and issue them with health certificates.
It allegedly issued health certificates to expatriate laborers without conducting either medical check-ups or laboratory tests.
A Saudi doctor working in the hospital informed the health affairs department that he suspected illegal activities were going on in the clinic with the approval of an expatriate doctor of Arab nationality. The Saudi doctor’s suspicion was aroused as the expatriate doctor concealed all the health certificates issued to the laborers from the Saudi doctor by signing them himself.
Commenting on the issue, an official source at the Health Affairs office informed Arab News that a commission of inquiry has been set up to find out if the charges against the clinic and the expatriate doctor were true. The health officials also wanted to know why the doctor used to conceal the certificates.
The director of the clinic dismissed all the charges as baseless and far from true.
However, the Saudi doctor alleges that the certificates with the expatriate doctor’s signature were issued indiscriminately to laborers who might be suffering from infectious diseases, as they were not subjected to mandatory health checks. The source also said the health authorities has suspended the clinic’s license to issue health certificates to laborers until the issue is settled.
The Health Affairs Office takes a serious view of any irregularity in the matter of health certificates issued to expatriate laborers, because it involves the health of the whole population of the Kingdom. According to regulations, expatriate workers are subjected to a medical check-up before they are issued with residence permits. If the charges against the clinic and the expat doctor are proved true, they will be liable to severe punishment.
