Recent newspaper reports quoted the Ministry of Health as saying there were 6,787 AIDS patients in the Kingdom. Of this number, 1,509 are Saudis and the remainder of different nationalities. The reports gave sketchy information on the hospitals where the patients are treated and whether the hospitals are fully equipped to treat AIDS.
If non-Saudis receive medical treatment for long periods, who pays for it? The government, the sponsor or the insurance company? And are non-Saudis with AIDS immediately deported from the Kingdom?
These are the kind of questions that I, as a reader, hoped to find answers to. It is the duty of officials at the ministry to provide them. In any case, I have to assume that all AIDS patients — Saudis and non-Saudis — are treated at government hospitals. I base my assumption on the fact that a private hospital in Jeddah was recently reported to have refused to treat an AIDS patient on the grounds that it was not equipped to handle the disease.
That story raises the following questions: Do Saudi hospitals really have the expertise and equipment to treat these patients? If non-Saudi AIDS patients go to a hospital, will the hospital admit them as it does the thousands of foreigners suffering from other diseases? Will insurance companies agree to cover the cost of treating these patients and for how long? If there are non-Saudi AIDS patients, are they deported and after how long a time?
It seems we are faced with a very serious situation. AIDS patients know they will be deported if their condition is discovered so they obviously will not come forward and report themselves to the health authorities. The problem is worsened by the presence of patients who may be living illegally in the Kingdom and who cannot be expected to admit they are infected. I don’t think any of them would voluntarily admit to having AIDS since they know they will not be treated and will instead be deported. Since we don’t know the exact number of AIDS patients staying illegally in the country, it means all of us are exposed to a great danger and we must take all the necessary precautions.
The press should investigate the matter and discuss it from all angles. Officials may feel embarrassed when asked to give answers to many questions but the press must seek the truth. Its failure to provide readers with a good service will only lead to exacerbating the situation.
