RIYADH: A total of 5,300 victims of violence, most of them women, were received by health facilities here in the last three years, an official was quoted as saying by local media on Saturday.

Turki Al-Maliki, head of the Directorate of Protection from Harm in the Ministry of Health, came out with the figures during a meeting of the committees for protection against violence in Riyadh recently.

He said a number of recommendations were made during the meeting, the most important of them being holding of occasional forums with the heads of the committees and coming up with guide on policies and procedures.

Head of the protection team against violence Fahd Al-Mansour said the role of the team is to supervise the committees and register the cases of violence and the communication with the parties concerned.

Specialist social team coordinator Amal Al-Howari said: “The number of protection committees under the Riyadh Health Affairs is 44, distributed in all hospitals in the city and outside of it and that the protection team in the region includes eight doctors headed by Al-Mansour and includes Ali Al-Talhi, Faisal Al-Otaibi, Dalia Mukhtar, Ghada Al-Sulieh, Laila Al-Abaad and Zeinab Al-Bar.”