Jeddah hospitals get highest number of emergency cases

Leading hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health in Jeddah receive an average of 4,600 emergency cases every day. This figure is even higher during holidays, Ramadan and Haj.
Jeddah hospitals receive the largest number of emergency cases in Saudi Arabia, said Abdul Aziz Al-Shotairy, a senior official in emergency medical care in Jeddah and director of King Saud Hospital.
He told Arab News on Thursday that road accidents occupy the lion’s share of emergency trauma cases. The Ministry of Health seeks to equip leading hospitals in Jeddah with an emergency medical care unit or trauma specialist unit.
Al-Shotairy had recently visited India and Pakistan to recruit physicians who are specialized in emergency medical care.
The presence of high-quality emergency medical services in Jeddah is of high significance, as Jeddah is the gateway to the two holy mosques. The city receives visitors throughout the year, keeping emergency wards busy.
The official said that King Saud Hospital receives an average of 1,000 cases per day and that King Abdulaziz, King Fahd and Tagher Hospitals also receive a similar number of daily visitors. In addition, children and maternity hospitals receive around 600 patients per day.
He emphasized upon the importance of public participation at the scene until ambulances arrive.
“A patient will die on the spot if his brain and heart are deprived of blood and oxygen,” he said.
“A bystander can save a person’s life by merely compressing the chest and filling the lungs with air through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until medics arrive,” he added.
Apart from road accidents, many emergency cases involve accidents due to electric short-circuiting, toxic chemical leakage, animal or insect bites. Al-Shotairy hailed the role played by Saudi Red Crescent ambulance teams in saving the lives of victims. The Ministry of Health and Saudi Red Crescent Society held a three-day program in Jeddah about public participation in the life-saving process.
Sami Badawood, director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, inaugurated the program.
Bandar Ba Raheem, the Saudi Red Crescent’s Makkah province director, and Abdul Rauf Khuranfur of the Prince Naif Program for First Aid at the Saudi Red Crescent Society in Makkah, along with paramedics of emergency medical care units in Jeddah, also attended the program that was concluded on Thursday.