It appears that the Saudi Health Ministry’s problems are endless. On top of complaints of subpar service and the desperate need for more beds, now there are cases of medical personnel being exposed and succumbing to infectious diseases.
The latest incident involves the death of Bandar Al-Khatheeri, a nurse in the emergency room of King Abdulaziz Hospital in Jeddah. Al-Khatheeri was the first medical staff member to die from complications of MERS – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, more commonly known as the coronavirus — in Saudi Arabia. His case followed seven other suspected cases of MERS among the medical staff at King Fahd General Hospital in Jeddah. Among seven suspected cases is a physician.
Al-Khatheeri’s father has appeared on Saudi television discussing his son’s deteriorating condition and his requests that he be transferred to another hospital either in Saudi Arabia or another country that would be better equipped to handle the man’s illness.
The father alleged on television that the Health Ministry had not been forthright about his son’s condition and failed to tell his family the exact nature of his illness.
Medical personnel becoming infected with a virus or disease is not uncommon in the medical profession, but the father’s point was the family has the right to the details of their loved one’s condition and the right to go public if those rights are ignored. Further, the father alleged that medical authorities have been asserting the son had been infected outside the hospital, while in fact he was aiding a patient infected with MERS in the emergency room.
Al-Khatheeri’s case illustrates some of the deep fundamental flaws in the way the Health Ministry allocates huge budgets for health services, but fails to monitor how those funds are most effectively used to provide an acceptable level of service to patients. Saudi hospitals are also slow in activating and responding to the recently established Infection Control Department. Further compounding the problem is the habit of Health Ministry to sign contracts with unspecialized cleaning companies that hire cheap manpower and used the cheapest cleaning materials to clean medical facilities.
While accompanying my late mother to the hospital during her illness, I witnessed on numerous occasions cleaning workers spending more time begging for money from patients’ families than cleaning. If a patient’s family pays a cleaner a few extra riyals, they will get a wet, dirty mop swiped across the floor. Just two weeks ago, when a family member gave birth to a baby at a Jeddah hospital, she was given a grubby room with piles of dust in the each of the four corners.
Physicians and nurses have complained bitterly that there is not enough space or staff in emergency rooms and the emergency facilities are not isolated from other treatment rooms. Even under those circumstances hospitals do not follow the international standard for isolation.
Dr. Sabah Abu Zinadah, chair of the Saudi Scientific Nursing Council, talked to Saudi television last week to complain that nurses are not given allowances in their salaries for their exposure to infections. They are also expected to work long hours without further financial compensation.
Saudi hospital personnel are not willfully neglectful of their patients’ needs and health, but rather bureaucracy and lack of accountability are responsible for these severe lapses in quality medical care and maintaining hygiene. In many cases, physicians, not skilled individuals specialized in hospital management, run medical facilities. We tend to kill good talent by turning every good doctor into an administrator, a profession he or she is ill suited to handle.
Infection control should be our priority. That means having skilled administrators following strict protocol that rises to international standards. If we are to save lives, then health officials must rethink their strategies, including recruiting high-end hospital administrators and top-notch physicians to beef up our medical system.
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