JEDDAH, 13 July 2004 — A public hospital in Jeddah held a newborn baby for seven months because his parents could not pay the fees, according to press reports three weeks ago.
Ahmed Basha, a Somali, was born in a public clinic but four days later was taken to a private clinic in King Abdul Aziz Hospital because he was crying constantly, his mother told Al-Watan newspapers.
At KAAH he was diagnosed with severe lung infection and taken to the intensive care unit. Once the child had recovered, the hospital billed the parents, but since they could not pay the hospital held Ahmed for seven months until the accumulated bill came to over SR100,000. During that time his mother visited him whenever she could. Ahmed was finally released after his parent signed a commitment to pay in installments, the paper said.
However, the director of the hospital’s private clinics said the child was not kept because of the unpaid bill but because his release documents were not complete. “When he was brought here, he needed intensive care and was put in an incubator until he recovered. We kept him a few more days afterward because the woman who was visiting him had no proof that she was his mother and claimed that the father was in Somalia,” Dr. Hasan Al-Qarni told Arab News. When she finally brought the birth certificate and personal identification documents, the hospital handed her the baby. The bill is much lower than has been reported, and we were not even after payment of the bill,” Dr. Al-Qarni said adding, “We don’t expect her to pay it.”
The same newspaper reported a similar case in Riyadh last week. It said Sudanese twins, a boy and a girl, were being held at the Maternity and Children’s Hospital in the Riyadh Medical Complex for the past ten months because their parents are unable to pay the bill, which stands at SR140,000. Every day adds another SR500, it said.
According to the report the mother delivered the twins two months prematurely, which required placing them in incubators. The father, who works in the Industrial City and has a salary of SR1,200, paid SR2,390 for the delivery but was unable to pay the remaining cost.
Al-Watan quoted the hospital director Dr. Fawaz Al-Qasim as saying the case would be settled within two weeks and denied that the hospital held the twins. Rather, the father refused to take them if that meant signing an undertaking to pay the bill. Al-Qasim added this was no isolated case and there were other babies at the hospital whose parents refuse to take them home, especially if they are born with a deformity or a handicap.
The issue of bill payments in public hospitals, whether by Saudis or expatriates, is complex. Administrators say they are not out to make a profit, but only to provide quality health care, often at discounted prices to meet minimum expenses.
It makes no sense for a hospital to hold a baby indefinitely, not just morally but also financially. The longer the patient stays, the higher the bill, and they occupy beds that we need,” said Rasheed Al-Jihani, the director of administrative affairs at King Abdul Aziz University Hospital.
Like other public hospitals, KAAUH has a private clinic for patients who are willing to pay for faster care of a higher standard.
Patients are given an estimate of what their treatment will cost and are asked to pay part of it upfront. If they cannot pay the remaining expenses, other arrangements are made — none include holding the patient at the hospital. The Maternity and Children’s Hospital offers discounts, an installment plan and even a waiver of payment if patients are unable to pay. “We never hold a child if their parents do not pay,” said Dr. Abdul Elah Al-Fatni, the hospital’s assistant director.
Parents are given an estimate and are told of any extra expenses, such as out-of-hospital medication or laboratory analysis, from the start. Although the hospital’s private clinic provides treatment at discounted prices, it also pays for the extra expenses and bills the parents later. “If the parents cannot pay, they are asked to sign an undertaking that they will pay, and then they can pay in installments,” Dr. Al-Fatni said.
Emergency patients are exempt from upfront payment. Children with disabilities, deformities or chronic ailments that require long-term treatment such as cancer, diabetes, heart and infectious diseases are given special consideration and even financial assistance.
