YANBU, 27 August 2007 — Fateema Al-Refaie, the 33-year-old Saudi asthma sufferer who, according to her brother in a previous statement, was allegedly administered a banned antibiotic causing her to become brain dead, is in a coma and not brain dead as previously reported.
Fateema, who has been transferred to Madinah’s King Fahd Hospital, has undergone an operation at the hospital to help her breathe.
Meanwhile, the Madinah Health Affairs Department has begun investigating Fateema’s case following a complaint filed by her brother Eid Al-Refaie.
Eid alleges that Dr. Muhammad Gerkis, a pulmonologist at the Yanbu General Hospital, directed a nurse to give Fateema an injection that has been banned. He has also accused the manager of the Health Affairs Department in Yanbu of malpractice for giving statements to a local newspaper. Eid confirmed that his sister is in a coma and not dead and that she would be out of the coma in three weeks.
Adil Sharif, official spokesman of the Madinah Health Affairs Department, confirmed that the department’s general manager, Dr. Sahl ibn Darwish Salamah, had issued a directive prohibiting the accused doctor and nurse from traveling. The department has also retained Fateema’s original file and obtained two medical reports about her condition from hospitals in Madinah and Yanbu.
“A committee has also been formed to investigate the type of medicine Fateema was administered,” Sharif said.
