ABHA, 31 May — Saudi authorities have deported an expatriate doctor who was convicted of two cases of serious malpractice. He had been working as an orthopedist at the Asir Central Hospital and as a lecturer at the King Khaled University Medical College.
Montgomerie Haring, a Sierra Leone national who worked in a number of hospitals in Saudi Arabia over the past 10 years, was also ordered to pay a total of SR85,000 in compensation to his two victims. He left the Kingdom on Monday for New Zealand.
Assaf ibn Farhan, head of the medical committee in Asir, told Arab News that Haring was charged with malpractice while treating two patients some eight months ago. In the first case, the doctor performed an operation on an Egyptian citizen named Muhammad Khaleel, who was suffering from vertebral dislocation. The Egyptian’s condition worsened following the surgery. He cannot move now without the support of a walking stick.
Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Sharif, director of health affairs in the Asir region, said the Egyptian victim was brought back to the Kingdom to present his case before the medical committee which also summoned the accused doctor.
“After hearing arguments of both parties, the committee ordered the doctor to pay SR63,000 in compensation to the patient,” Al-Sharif said, adding that the Egyptian received the money and returned to his country.
In the second case, a Saudi woman claimed that an operation performed on her by Haring caused a deformity in her right leg. The surgery was carried out without the knowledge of her legal guardian. The doctor argued that he dealt with the case on the basis of previous medical reports. The woman was later shifted to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh.
The doctor was asked to pay SR22,000 compensation in the second case. Al-Sharif said the doctor was deported following recommendations from the Health Ministry and the university.
