A few days ago a Saudi in Dammam discovered a new-born baby girl beside his parked car.
Blood covered the tiny unattended child, attracting hungry alley cats which had gathered round.
The man called his family and neighbors and rushed the child to a nearby government hospital.
To their shock, the hospital refused to assist the baby as she had no identity papers!
The man was told to take the child to the police and he did so.
At the station, the police grumbled at the hasty decision by the rescuer who had removed the child from the scene before notifying the police. Regulations, the man learned, direct that the situation must first be reported and the information filed on the scene.
Surely people have every right to accuse a hospital of failing in its duty when it refuses to assist a new-born child left in the street with hungry alley cats. Hospitals are supposed to assist in these kinds of situations regardless of whether the infant is accompanied by parents or not.
This child’s only fault was that she was alone with no mother to help and no father to do anything at all. She became the victim of a system that does not recognize the right to medical treatment of a lonely and helpless child left alone to face an unknown fate.
Why did the system fail to respond to the child’s heart-breaking cries?
Why didn’t the hospital director possess the authority to respond properly to such an emergency?
These cases could be solved with just a little coordination between security and hospital authorities.
No case such as this one should be subject to any delay at all.
22 July 2002
