JEDDAH, 21 November — The doctors and nurses of King Saud Hospital here have complained that some members of the hospital staff are suffering from contagious diseases such as tuberculosis, chicken pox and German measles.
Three male and two female nurses have contracted these diseases from patients in the hospital’s isolation ward. Hospital workers blamed a lack of health and safety precautions, particularly face masks, at the hospital for the infection.
There have been long-standing demands for back-payment of an agreed uniform allowance for hospital workers. The staff, who number more than 80, have reportedly not been paid the monthly allowance of SR1,000 for five years.
Dr. Sameer Langawi, director general of health affairs in Jeddah, has confirmed that a small number of the staff in King Saud Hospital have indeed contracted infectious diseases. He has ordered the payment of an infectious disease allowance to them.
The ministries of health and civil services have been working to remove the hurdles obstructing the payment of the uniform allowance for the past several years, battling against arguments from the hospital that it cannot afford such a sudden, additional financial burden.
However, the director denied the accusation that the hospital was breaking health and safety regulations in the isolation ward.
"The hospital is fully equipped and there is no basis whatsoever to reports about a lack of masks and other safety measures," the director general said.
Hospital workers have also complained that their requests for transfer to other departments or hospitals have repeatedly been rejected, and nothing has been done to improve their hazardous work environment.
They claim that, to add insult to injury, staff who do not work in wards caring for patients with infectious diseases have always been paid their uniform allowances on time.
According to a memo sent by the health directorate to the ministry’s budgeting section, the hospital suffers from shortages regarding the treatment of infectious diseases while at the same time being the only hospital where such cases are referred to in Jeddah.
