Just how good are our state-funded hospitals? If you ask the Health Ministry officials, chances are they will trumpet that everything is fine. But the reality is something else, as is revealed by a reader who shared with me her experience at such an institution.
"My husband spent some 25 days in Makkah between Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr during which he spent several hours in the Grand Mosque (Haram). On his return to Riyadh, he immediately noticed the swelling of lymph nodes on his neck. He went to King Khaled University Hospital (KKUH) where he was given a cursory examination and told to wait a month. If the swelling did not cease, then he was to return...
"Ten days later he was having difficulty with breathing. He made his way to the ER at KKUH, where a sign in English and Arabic displayed at the emergency entrance door stated: "The ER is closed to adult patients as there are no more beds." Fortunately, he found another way in and proceeded to the emergency room. As he entered the room, a male attendant looked up in surprise and asked, "Didn't you see the sign? We are closed. We have no more beds."
"My husband told them he was in distress and all he wanted at the moment was some oxygen to see if that would help him breath better. Usually my husband is very polite and diplomatic but being told the ER was closed and to go home prompted him to respond, "What is this? A hospital or a grocery store?" He was finally given a cursory examination by a physician who kept telling him, 'I cannot admit you because we have no beds'. The physician relented by prescribing some medications and sent him home.
"Due to the lack of seriousness displayed by the physician from Infectious Disease section about his condition, we consulted with a friend at KKUH (also a physician). He in turn referred us to a doctor in oncology. By this time about six weeks had passed.
"The oncologist requested multiple tests including CAT scan; gallium scan and an FNA (fine needle aspiration biopsy). It took three weeks to get the results of all these tests and we learned the FNA was "undetermined." At that point, he was told an excision biopsy must be done which is a minor surgery to extract a lymph node for analysis. At this stage his lymph nodes were swollen and enlarged from his head to his groin.
"The excision biopsy should be a one-day process. He ended up spending three days in the hospital. To begin with, he was not given appropriate anesthesia and had a severe reaction causing several tense hours. Then adding salt to the wound, one week later when we expected to hear the results of his biopsy, he was told that the specimen had been 'mishandled' and thereby rendered useless! The surgeon wanted to do another biopsy. We said, NO WAY! So at that point the oncologist ordered a bone marrow analysis. Again, a wait of several days plus about a week for the results. My husband found it to be an excruciatingly painful procedure and rested for six hours before leaving KKUH.
"We waited anxiously for the results. On a Wednesday afternoon the doctor called my husband from the airport. He was getting ready to leave the country on vacation. Over the phone the doctor told my husband the results were in and he had acute biophenlyptic leukemia (BAL) and that he better admit himself into a hospital! As you can imagine, my husband was shocked at hearing such news in that manner. I immediately called the doctor back to confirm that was what he really said... It was.
"At that point we immediately started speaking with contacts and got him accepted into King Faisal Specialist Hospital. They redid some of the tests (not the biopsy). The KFSH test results indicated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and not BAL as diagnosed by KKUH. This was determined by another bone marrow analysis. After the procedure at KFSH my husband was up and walking within an hour whereas the same procedure at KKUH had him incapacitated for six hours!
"So we feel that we lost time with KKUH (where my husband initially had a file and acceptance) plus as you can imagine we also lost all confidence in this hospital. Doctors at the KKUH are competent but there are serious quality control problems there. The three days while my husband was a patient the doctor did give us a special permit so I could be with him and thankfully attend to him. My personal observations were that the nurses were not promptly responsive when he needed attention.
"During my days there, I came to know of other cases of improper care. One of my colleagues from NGHA had a sister who was a practicing physician at the KKUH. She was admitted for cancer treatment to KKUH. After one week she asked to be transferred to KFSH remarking she had no idea that the nursing and quality control was so poor."
This lady was brave enough to share her experience with others. How many others have such disturbing tales to tell? Will the Ministry of Health be brave enough to find out and remedy them? No more trumpets please.
