JEDDAH, 22 June — A day after Arab News reported that there was a cash crisis at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, resulting in the deferral of salary payments for the whole hospital employees, senior medical and nursing staff said that salaries were paid.

"It’s late, but better late than never," said one doctor.

"We have been paid and that is very welcome," said another. "However, the core debt of SR500 million is still there. I suspect that this is a sticking plaster approach to a very big problem."

The hospital has so far declined to comment, but they did allow this reporter to tour the hospital and speak to staff freely on Wednesday.

The full extent of the financial crisis was explained at a staff meeting on Tuesday, when the employees were informed that although their exit visas and tickets home would be honored there was no guarantee that they would be paid their outstanding salaries.

KFSH is one of two hospitals with Joint Commission International Accreditation (JCIA) in Saudi Arabia. The award confirmed the hospital’s status as one of the very best in the world. It was founded two years ago.

The hospital represents a major investment in cash and skills for the Kingdom.

In an attempt to generate cash flow, the hospital opened an after-hours private pay clinic and in-patient ward. This put the hospital, which was under the umbrella of the government for the last two years, in direct competition with commercial hospitals and clinics.

The expected profit failed to materialize and had the opposite to its intended effect by exacerbating the cash flow crisis.

By allowing its debt burden to grow to this amount, its reputation for offering excellent health care was potentially being undermined.

Yesterday, many of the nursing staff reiterated that they remained loyal to the hospital. However, others expressed their resentment at the way certain members of staff are paid from a separate budget from Riyadh. The latter were paid as normal this month.

"These staff paid from Riyadh can afford to be loyal," was how one doctor put it. "The rest of have to be practical."