However the ruling did not apply to any of the technicians that did not approach the court.
The technicians have demanded parity in salary and allowances with other nursing staffers working at the mental health sector across the Kingdom, Al-Madinah newspaper reported. The technicians pointed out that they are exposed to attacks, such as beating or verbal abuse, on virtually a daily basis. They say that they had been deprived of their allowances against mental risk, which amounts to 30 percent of their salaries.
They drew attention to the fact that most of the nursing technicians at almost all other mental hospitals in the Kingdom receive the allowance. However, the Health Affairs Department in Jeddah has not followed suit.
Reacting on the issue, Nabeel Al-Johani, one of the staffers, said: “We want to get our legitimate rights in the workplace. We are facing a lot of risks and undesirable behavior at the hands of the hospital patients. A section of technicians managed to win a favorable verdict when they approached the Court of Grievances. The court ordered to give them the risk allowance as well as to settle their dues from the date of appointment. The court order is applicable only to the petitioners.”
Nabeel Al-Johani noted that they are exposed to attacks and verbal abuse from patients.
“We are showing utmost restraint in dealing with the patients. Even then, we are deprived of the legitimate rights of a 30 percent risk allowance,” he said.
On his part, Abdul Rahman Al-Harithy, who has been working at the Jeddah mental institution, said he had to tackle a number of challenges while interacting with the mentally ill, as well as dealing with the stigma attached to those working at mental hospitals.
“We treat the inmates decently and respectfully as if we were their family members. We feed them, bathe them and entertain them even though we are often subjected to their sudden attacks."
Abdullah Al-Zahrani, a nursing technician who registered with the others, said: “I have been doing the same job for some seven years. However, my colleagues and myself have so far not been paid the 30 percent risk allowance. We receive an annual lump sum of SR1,500.”
Muhammad Al-Qarni, assistant director of a nursing department at the mental hospital, was the victim of an attack by a hospital inmate.
“One patient stabbed me wounding my thigh while I was attending to him in the emergency department. The patient had hidden a knife in his clothes. When I was talking to him about a consulting doctor, he attacked me with the knife. Even after confronting such situations, we are denied a risk allowance,” he said.
A Saudi female nurse who works at the hospital recalled an incident in which she was targeted by a patient. When she got into a vehicle after finishing duty, a speeding car was about to collide with her vehicle. A mentally ill man who drove the car was stopped by hospital security guards. The man wanted to harm the nurse after believing that she was his enemy.
Meanwhile, Adnan Mufti, the medical director and assistant director for health affairs at the hospital, said the hospital staffers face the possibility of physical assaults at the hands of patients on a daily basis.
