RIYADH, 3 September 2003 — Saudi women make up some 20 percent of the 800 AIDS cases reported in the Kingdom this year, a senior official at the Ministry of Health here has announced.
Ministry consultant Dr. Tarek Al-Madani said most of the cases were the result of infected blood transfusions or transmitted to the women by their husbands.
Dr. Al-Madani said the Ministry of Health had recently set up a technical committee to follow up on the disease and its treatment worldwide. The committee also monitors lab tests carried out on expatriate workers to make sure they are free from HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The HIV virus has so far claimed around 450 lives in the Kingdom, Dr. Al-Madani said.
The doctor appealed to the community to treat AIDS patients humanely. Last month, Abdul Rahim Mahmood, a 57-year-old AIDS patient from Indonesia, was dumped on Palestine Street in Jeddah by security staff of the New Jeddah Clinic Hospital, sparking a public outcry against such inhumane treatment.
The cost of treatment is estimated at an annual SR200,000-400,000 depending on the severity of the case. A review of the statistics shows that the incidence of AIDS has gone up from 350 cases in 2001 to 800 this year. A majority of the patients were Saudis in the 20-45 age group.
Dr. Abdullah Akeel, head of the contagious diseases department at King Saud University, was quoted by Al-Watan newspaper as saying that lab tests and the immunity cell count in addition to the level of the virus in the blood determine the kind of treatment the patient needs.
Akeel said the duration of treatment depended on the patient’s response to the medicine and the virus level in the blood. “There is a particular kinds of AIDS virus which is very dangerous and causes blindness, after which the patient might live between six and 12 months. However, the situation is now changing thanks to the availability of effective medicines.”
