IN a neighboring Gulf county, the media does not shy away from reporting on the mental conditions of housemaids who arrive in the region. Apparently, 80 percent of maids seek psychiatric help for pre-existing disorders. These ailments were discovered after they had already arrived and were ready to report for work. Most have either recovered or greatly improved due to treatment and long term care afforded to them by their host country. However, in our case, we wake up to horrific incidents of abuse and murder by housemaids. Is it possible for mental health tests to be made mandatory for maids before they are allowed to work in the Kingdom? This seems to be a moral and legal issue. Nobody accepts being taken to a psychiatrist. The problem starts with recruitment offices in countries exporting workers. These countries fail to take the necessary precautions before sending manpower to the Kingdom, negligence that can prove deadly for innocent Saudi families. The problem can also start as a direct result of the maid's immediate environment. Often, maids develop psychiatric problems after arriving and living in the Kingdom. This means the mental and physical workload in some homes is detrimental to the health of guest workers. Numerous studies show that a very high percentage of female domestic workers in the Gulf region are suffering from psychosis. People with psychosis lose touch with reality. Two of the main symptoms are delusions and hallucinations. They also have unjustified fear. Such people are more likely to commit sudden and random violent acts. Not only this, but one clinic disclosed that 70 percent of domestic workers visiting it are suffering from other psychiatric disorders that require the maid to stop working and undergo treatment. I asked several people if they have ever taken their housemaid to the psychiatrist. I found out that over 75 percent of employers had not taken their maids to a psychiatrist as they thought recruitment offices had carried out background mental health checks. The remaining 25 percent used intuition and observations of their maid's alarming behavior and promptly put her on the next flight back home. It is clear that pre-existing mental conditions in domestic workers who come to the Kingdom is a major issue and one that we don't have any solution to.
