JEDDAH: The General Directorate of Health in Tabuk has terminated the director of the lab of the maternity hospital.

The reasons given were the transfer of contaminated blood and insufficient supervision for implementing procedures and work policies related to blood transfusions.

Hatem Al-Mansouri, the sacked director, said an Asian expatriate had donated blood on June 15, 2015. Samples were sent to King Khaled Hospital. The first sample was identified as positive and the second negative.

He said officials had not destroyed the bag of blood in the presence of two technicians and the bag was instead taken to the storage cooler.

He added that a patient came to the hospital, and the bag of blood was used in giving her a transfusion.

The mistake was discovered after three months. A report was sent to the director of the maternity hospital which resulted in further tests on the donor.

“After conducting necessary tests, it was sent to labs in Madinah and the results were negative,” he claimed.

Al-Mansouri was shocked by the decision to relieve him from his job without any investigation. He maintains that all procedures were followed and that he had nothing to do with what had happened.

He said when he was on a three-month leave the decisions to appoint people had been made without his knowledge.

An official source in Tabuk said that the health directorate was committed to transparency and applying the rules and regulations, in addition to taking care of the health and safety of patients.