JEDDAH, 23 October 2003 — As many as 6,787 AIDS cases have been reported in the Kingdom with expatriates accounting for 78 percent of the cases, Al-Watan reported yesterday quoting a Health Ministry official.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Jefri, director of the department of contagious diseases at the ministry, estimated the number of Saudi AIDS victims at 1,509 or 22 percent. “About 77 percent of them are men in the 15-49 age group,” he said.

Nearly 95 percent of AIDS cases in the Kingdom were caused by extramarital sexual relations, the official pointed out. There are about seven million expatriate workers in the Kingdom and a large majority of them live without their families.

Jeddah accounts for 41 percent of AIDS cases, followed by Riyadh 16 percent, Dammam 12 percent, Taif five percent, and Al-Ahsa four percent. About 200 AIDS cases were reported in the year 2002, the paper said.

According to Al-Jefri, AIDS victims and their families have the right to reject mentioning the reason for the death in their death certificate.

He said the ministry had allocated more than SR24 million to purchase medicine and equipment required for the treatment of AIDS patients in the country. The ministry has established a technical committee to keep abreast of 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 cost of treatment of an AIDS patient is estimated at SR200,000-SR400,000 annually, depending on the severity of the case.

The ministry recently opened a center at the Riyadh Medical Complex to provide advanced treatment to patients suffering from AIDS. Similar centers will be opened shortly in Jeddah and Dammam. They will be established at major health facilities and will be provided with advanced medical equipment.

“We also intend to launch a national program to combat AIDS by educating the public on the dangers of the disease and what precautionary measures they must take,” Al-Jefri said.

Al-Jefri warned employees in charge of cleaning the dead at hospitals and cemeteries against contracting HIV virus by failing to take adequate precautionary measures.

According to Dr. Tarek Al-Madani, adviser to the health minister on contagious diseases, most AIDS cases among Saudi women were the result of blood transfusions.