MADINAH — The number of malpractice complaints filed against medical practitioners by patients and relatives rose by 37 percent in the past five years, according to a report carried by Al-Watan Arabic daily. The cases were taken up by 22 legal health committees across the Kingdom. They issued 1,097 verdicts related to public and private rights and reconciliation. The paper said the number of cases rose by 37 percent from 2,002 in 1433 AH to 3,178 cases in 1437 AH. The legal health committees held a total of 4,282 sessions during the period and issued 557 verdicts against the Health Ministry and 437 verdicts against private hospitals. Seven verdicts have been issued against health practitioners at university hospitals, 75 verdicts against doctors at military hospitals and 21 verdicts against workers at other health institutions. The committees found 0.7 percent of doctors in the Kingdom guilty of committing medical errors and two of them were asked to pay SR1 million in fines. The number of plaintiffs reached 1,097, including 127 expats, while the number of defendants reached 2,166, including 440 Saudis and 1,726 expats. A total of 115 Saudis and 582 expats were convicted of various medical mistakes. The report said 470 of those convicted were men and 227 women. The largest number of cases — 1,915 — was filed against doctors, 32 against technicians and 219 against nurses. A total of 303 cases were related to maternity and childcare, 125 cases related to internal diseases and 22 urological cases. Other cases related to dental diseases, surgery, ENT, pediatric diseases and neurological operations, the report said. As many as 2,166 health practitioners were charged with committing medical mistakes, including 1,726 expats and 440 Saudis. Of the 1,915 doctors who faced charges of committing medical mistakes 611 were convicted. They represented only 0.7 percent of a total of 86,000 doctors practicing in the Kingdom. Doctors who were charged with committing medical mistakes represented 2.2 percent. Of the 1,097 verdicts issued by the committees, 408 were for causing deaths and 134 verdicts were for violating private rights. A total of 106 verdicts were issued asking defendants to pay compensation for causing handicaps to plaintiffs. Legal health committees hold 16 sessions monthly. The largest numbers of sessions take place in Jamad Al-Awwal, Rabie Al-Thani and Safar while the lowest number in Ramadan. Of the convicted doctors and paramedical staff in 1437H, 278 were from Egypt, 44 from Pakistan, eight from Lebanon, 115 from Saudi Arabia, 42 from India, eight from Palestine, 77 from Syria, 28 from Jordan, 37 from Sudan, 28 from the Philippines and 30 from other countries.
