JEDDAH: Riham Al-Hakami, the Jazan girl who was wrongly given AIDS-infected blood during treatment at a government hospital two years ago, will get a financial compensation of SR500,000, a verdict issued by the legal medical committee said.

The girl’s lawyer said he had asked for a compensation of SR50 million considering the enormity of the case, which had gone viral on the social media at that time. Subsequently a number of health officials lost their jobs.

The committee fined Jazan General Hospital doctors and nurses, who were treating Riham, SR500,000. The verdict came at the conclusion of hearing sessions, sabq.org said.

Saudi bloggers opposed the verdict saying it valued the life of an innocent at SR500,000, adding that in Western countries such victims would receive higher compensations.

They urged the authorities to pay Riham and her family a much higher amount as compensation to meet her medical expenditure. “A teardrop of this little girl will be valued more than SR100 million,” one blogger said.