ABHA: An expatriate HIV positive woman recently ran away from the Khamis Mushayt Civilian Hospital while hospital management and police squabbled over whether there was a need to post police officers at her bedside.
The 44-year-old Somali woman was initially admitted into hospital after sustaining injuries in a domestic quarrel. Subsequent medical examinations showed she was HIV-positive and was transferred into an isolation ward.
“The woman is believed to have escaped from the hospital during visiting times because police did not make any arrangements to post security guards,” a source at the hospital said. According to Saudi regulations, foreigners with infections such as AIDS are not allowed to stay or work in the Kingdom. “The lack of proper coordination between the hospital administration and police has been the root cause of her escape. The police should also find her husband, who is reportedly working in a restaurant, for necessary checks to make sure he is also not HIV positive,” the source added.
He also said that police refused to post officers to keep the woman under custody, claiming that doctors were unsure whether she was HIV-positive. “The hospital informed the police in a fax message that she was a confirmed AIDS patient and that this was ascertained after her blood was sent to a hospital in Jeddah. This was six days before the woman escaped from hospital. The police refused to take any precautionary steps on the pretext that they did not have sufficient officers.”
