Some patients and rehabilitated addicts at Al-Amal Hospital in Riyadh say their families did not visit them while they were undergoing therapy and refused to take them back after their recovery.
An Al-Amal official told Al-Eqtisadiah that it is a part of qualified medical staff’s duties to reconcile patients and their families.
He said this during an iftar organized by the hospital in the presence of Princess Samirah bint Abdullah Al-Faisal, president of Al-Fisam charity.
The 30 patients who attended the iftar talked about their experiences, the reasons behind their addiction, and the long journey of suffering and loss experienced because of their addiction.
They wished they could be taken back by their families after their recovery and warned others not to fall in the trap of drug addiction.
An inmate said she spent a long time in hospital, but her family didn’t come to visit her or take her away. “I don’t know anything about my family. I haven’t seen them since I was admitted here, which has caused me greater distress, but I have learned to live with my situation,” she added.
“My family wanted to get rid of me. They brought me here and never came to see me,” said another. These programs and activities give patients some breathing space to compensate for the lost family atmosphere.
Abdulhamid bin Abdullah Al-Habib, director of psychological and social welfare at the Ministry of Health, said part of the duties of staff at the Al-Amal hospital is to reinstate relations between patients and their families. The staff conducts individual studies and explains to patients’ families the importance of standing by their siblings during treatment. “We try to find out the reason behind the rejection and treat it through sessions with the patients and their families,” he said.
The patients are treated based on the outcomes of these sessions. “For instance, some families have their own reasons for rejecting certain behaviors. We try to remedy the situation and persuade the family to give their siblings a second chance,” said Al-Habib.
“There have been cases where staff didn’t succeed in bringing the patients and their families together. In these cases, we help patients become independent through finding them jobs and following up on their progress after their release,” he added.
Addicts who are rejected by their families are sent to shelters or stay at the hospital until their families are convinced to take them back.
Wafiah Al-Hayif, a social expert at the hospital, said they work hard to bring patients out of their isolation through introducing internal and external social programs. “Some families don’t even visit their girls here or take them back after recovery, which affects their progress because they reject therapy programs. We try to compensate them through our various social programs.”
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