Beware of rogue doctors: Health Ministry

Sequel to reports of medical malpractices carried out by nonprofessionals, the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a stern warning yesterday against casual health practitioners, who practice medicine illegally at unlicensed places.
Assistant Deputy Minister for Private Health Sector Affairs, Ali Al-Zawawi warned against dealing with these unscrupulous elements, which cheat people to earn a fast buck.
“Such practitioners have not got any certified scientific qualifications, and are not licensed to practice health professions,” Al- Zawawi said, pointing out that it is crucially important to avoid them, to evade disastrous outcomes that might come up as a result of arbitrary and unscientific practices.
He stressed that such unlicensed health practitioners pose an imminent danger to people’s lives.
The official pointed out that the MOH has recently observed the prevalence of this phenomenon, as manifested in the advertisement of such practices, through text messages, social networks, online forums and websites.
He added that these advertisements receive a favorable response from the public, who think it is convenient for them to resolve their medical problems through these scammers.
He said that the warning is being issued as part of the ministry's awareness campaign.
The ministry is seeking public support to track down individuals who are involved in this scam. People can lodge their complaints on the MOH website: www.moh.gov.sa or by fax [phone].
The ministry assured that the identity of the informants would not be revealed.
Lately, under its “Patients First” program, the ministry has been keeping a strict tab on all medical mistakes that occur within and outside public and private hospitals throughout the Kingdom.
Recently, Health Minister Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said that his ministry doesn’t distinguish between medical errors occurring in private hospitals and ones committed in public hospitals.
“The Health Ministry is to assure the quality in all health sectors,” he said.
During the first quarter of this year, the MOH closed down hospitals in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam for medical blunders committed by some of its medics.
In Riyadh, it was found that surgeries were performed outside the operation theaters.