A number of drug addicts at Al-Amal Hospital in Jeddah have left the facility after completing the initial phase of treatment. Sources at the hospital said that they had returned to their former ways causing much trouble to their families.

Patients addicted to drugs long to escape the confines of the rehabilitation center as soon as they are admitted, often responding negatively to the restrictive therapy sessions which require intense control for a period of three weeks.

S.H., relative of an addict undergoing therapy, said his family is tired of repeatedly admitting him for treatment only to find that he has escaped each time. He alleged collusion of hospital authorities, saying: “We know that patients are often encouraged to interrupt their treatment and return to drugs.”

According to sources, Al-Amal Hospital in Jeddah records the highest rate of desertion by patients for a number of reasons including the patient’s feeling of being jailed as opposed to being in a hospital for treatment; the patients’ psychological instability and alleged ill-treatment by some hospital staff.

Refuting the allegation of patients escaping from the hospital, official spokesman for Al-Amal Hospital, Suleiman Al-Zaidi said: “It is incorrect to say that the patients have ‘escaped.’ They leave of their own free will after the initial recovery period and this is often seen as a positive sign that the patient is returning to normalcy.”

He explained that there were two kinds of patients at the hospital: Those who were referred by the anti-drug department and were subject to intense security and precautionary measures, and those who arrived voluntarily or through their families. He said that the latter usually stay at the hospital until they are taken back by their families after the completion of the initial phase of treatment.

Bayan Zahran, a lawyer and legal adviser, said that from a legal point of view, the inpatient cases at Al-Amal Hospital who have come to seek help voluntarily are free to leave the hospital when they have completed the course of treatment.