RIYADH, 22 February 2005 — Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie yesterday denied that two newly recruited foreign nurses were deported after they tested HIV positive.
He was commenting on a local newspaper report that said the nurses’ contracts were terminated 40 days after they had started working in a ministry hospital.
Al-Manie said, “All foreign recruits are required to undergo medical tests before being granted entry visa. But regardless of this they are subjected again to a medical check-up here before they are granted the residence permit and allowed to practice.”
Also, the minister strongly criticized the media publicizing the names of the two nurses. “The names could have been leaked out deliberately or unintentionally, but what should be known is that such practice is forbidden under the Kingdom’s regulations. Besides, it is neither legal nor ethical to do so without the patients’ consent, specially when it comes to the socially stigmatized or deadly diseases such as AIDS,” Al-Manie said.
He said the Kingdom has around 1,500 AIDS patients, but “we never made their names public or worked on deporting them,” he added.
