The Jeddah health department recently closed down a private medical center for violating medical regulations.

The sole doctor working at the center at a prime location on Madinah Road claimed that he cured all kinds of ailments and operated on tumors, said Sami Badawood, director of the department.

Tareq Banjar, director of the department’s private health administration, said an inspection team was sent to the center after the department received complaints from the public.

The inspectors found that the establishment did not have a proper license, and the doctor who owned the unit was not only the physician and surgeon but also served as a nurse and technician. No other employee was working there except a receptionist from a Far East country, who claimed that she was the doctor’s assistant, Banjar said.

The clinic’s front door had a sign that said it provided tumor and stomach surgery, and treatment of all chronic diseases. The fee for consultations and other services were not displayed, but the doctor took a consulting fee of SR500 without giving an official receipt, only a piece of paper that did not have the name and official seal of the clinic, the inspectors found.

They also noticed that the doctor took blood samples from patients and then sent the samples to another laboratory without sticking to hygiene regulations. Sometimes the doctor threw the blood samples away, it was discovered.

Badawood appealed to all private hospitals and other medical facilities to cooperate with inspection teams.

“My office will continue inspection campaigns to prevent any kind of violations of the health regulations that has to be followed by hospitals, clinics and other health facilities in the private sector,” he said.

He warned that the ministry would punish all quacks and fraudsters in the sector.