JEDDAH, 24 March 2004 — King Abdul Aziz University Hospital is working with the fraud and forgeries unit of the Jeddah police to catch a group of forgers who have been selling absence excuse forms to university students and the general public. The forms, already signed and stamped by the hospital, are used to obtain days off from work or school.

An Arab News investigation revealed that these notes are easily attainable. For SR150, Arab News was able to acquire a blank KAUH-204 medical report form stamped by King Abdul Aziz University Hospital, bearing the name and signature of a university doctor.

Ghayeb (not his real name), the young man Arab News bought the form from, said: “I bought this one from a friend of mine who knows someone who works in the university. The form I gave you is quite valuable, especially blank. You can go sell it for even more than what you paid for it. I know one guy who paid SR1,800 for 15 days excused absence. It made the difference between him passing and failing a course he needed in order to graduate. Someone is making some serious money somewhere.”

Taking the stamped and signed original form, Arab News went to visit Dr. Feryal Felemban, whose name and signature, along with the Faculty of Medicine’s stamp, appear on the paper.

“This is my name, but it’s not my signature,” the doctor said. “The form you have is an original form, but the stamp on it is not the correct one for this type of form. To anyone working at the hospital it is questionable, but to people who don’t know, it looks official.

“This is very serious. I must show it to the medical director,” she said.

Dr. Felemban left her office and returned 15 minutes later with Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Sheikh, the hospital’s medical director. “We are aware of the problem and have been working with the Jeddah police for six months to locate the source,” he said. “This is a known problem and we are trying to get to the bottom of it. Six months ago an employer called to question an excused absence note he received from an employee. When we told him it was a fake, the man lost his job. That prompted the investigation into the forged forms,” he said.

“What we have to do is send out samples of the acceptable forms to all university professors so that they know what they look like, then tell the police of this latest incident,” he added.

Arab News learned that many depend on these absence forms to graduate.

Abdul Rahman (not his real name) has one more year left. He asked Arab News jokingly not to print this story until after he graduated. “I depend on these notes. My father is dead and I am the only one who drives. I have to drive my mother, sisters and younger brothers to and from school, as well as take care of all the errands and the family’s official business,” he said.

“Because of this I sometimes miss my classes. I do make up for it by studying harder and sometimes attending free private tuition with my classmates. I am not hurting anyone. But with all my absences, I will never graduate, and I must graduate to provide a better life for my family. These notes allow me to do that.”

“If the professors or any employer just took five minutes to call or fax the hospital to check the authenticity of the note, it would put a stop to this whole practice,” Abdul Rahman conceded.

In the case of Abdul Rahman, the use of such notes may appear to be a relatively minor infraction; but to a business-owner, this practice can be quite costly.

“If an employee presented me with this paper, I would probably give him the two weeks requested time off, if it was indicated. In fact, I am obliged to give it to him,” a senior executive at a large company said.

That could amount to significant losses.

King Abdul Aziz University Hospital is not the only large institution that is plagued by such forgeries. Arab News asked Ghayeb if he could get any others.

“I can get you one from Saudi Arabian Airline’s Medical Center,” he said. “It’s the original form with the red stamp on it. A guy I used to be friends with used to get them for me. I have a couple left. One of them is used but the other is still blank.”

Saudi Arabian Airlines were unavailable for comment.