JEDDAH, 15 August 2003 — The health affairs department here has launched an investigation into the maltreatment of an AIDS patient who was denied necessary treatment and thrown out into the street, as reported by Arab News on Tuesday.
Dr. Talal Akram, acting director of health affairs, said a committee had been set up to investigate the circumstances that prompted the New Jeddah Clinic Hospital to discharge Abdul Rahim Mahmood, a 57-year-old Indonesian, and dump him on the street.
The committee, which includes the director of King Saud Hospital for Contagious Diseases, Dr. Mahmoud Khoja, will also question Mahmood’s sponsor to determine whether he was ready to meet the cost of treatment for his employee.
Dr. Akram called the incident “deplorable” and said: “If we look at it from the human side, what happened is disgusting and not representative of our society or our religion.”
Khoja said Mahmood had arrived at his hospital in an unresponsive state. “Our doctors have examined him. As a result of our findings, and the inhumane manner in which he was treated, we have filed three complaints with the Ministry of Health against the New Jeddah Clinic Hospital,” he said.
Faisal Battah, a senior administrator at New Jeddah Clinic Hospital, described the incident as terrible. “Unfortunately, I cannot comment on what happened until I have consulted with our lawyers. Once that has happened, we will have a statement for the media,” he told Arab News.
Walid Al-Sabahi, administrative manager of Rajab and Silsilah, where the patient worked, told Okaz Arabic daily yesterday that those who maltreated his employee must be given maximum punishment.
“We informed the hospital that we will pay all the treatment expenses. But the hospital decided to throw the patient on the street,” the Arabic daily quoted the company director as saying. Sabahi said officials of the Red Crescent had refused to transport Mahmood from the street.
According to a friend, Mahmood had symptoms of the disease about a month ago and was very forgetful. “He is an introvert and kept himself to himself, and he did not come out of his flat during weekends if he could avoid it,” he told Okaz.
Four Arab colleagues of Mahmood, who used to share his room in a residential building underwent checkups on Wednesday. The tests showed they were free from AIDS. Mahmood spent his last holiday in an Arab country about two years ago. He is divorced and has no children.
