Saudi Gazette report YANBU – The brother of a comatose accident victim in Madinah has blamed the Directorate of the Health Affairs in Madinah for not carrying out the health minister's directives, thus leaving the victim and the family in a bureaucratic tangle. Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah had directed the directorate four months ago to transfer the patient from the ICU at King Fahd Hospital in Madinah to King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah. The letter made it mandatory for the directorate to lift the patient by air ambulance because he was critically injured in a traffic accident and was comatose, the Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported. The minister based his decision on a report made by the Consultative Health Committee, which recommended his transfer to a specialized trauma center. After four months the health director carried out the ministry's directives, but not to the letter. He instead transferred the patient to a private hospital in Madinah and not an advanced center like Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah. Abdullah Al-Qadi, the patient's brother, said his family sent a letter to the royal court asking it to help in enabling his brother to receive treatment in a specialist center. His brother slipped into deep coma following his car's collision with a stray camel on Makkah/Jeddah Expressway. Al-Qadi said his family received the go–ahead from the minster of health, consultative health committee and another letter from the Emir of Riyadh. The letter stated that the authorities will bear the expenses of the patient's treatment at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. He said he was shocked by the indifference shown by the Madinah directorate to his brother's serious condition and the ministry's directives. He said his brother's condition was stable although he has not come out of the coma from the day of the accident. He said he was obliged to pay a private consultant doctor to examine his brother after he was transferred to the private hospital, adding the doctor prescribed a medicine that had to be brought from Egypt as it was not available in the Kingdom. He said this raises a crucial question on how such a life- saving medicine is not provided in the country although doctors stressed its importance. Abdul Razak Hafiz, spokesman of the General Directorate of Health, said the directorate did follow the ministry's directives, and referred the case to King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah and sent all the medical reports to them. The hospital responded by saying that their services were not better than the ones in King Fahd Hospital in Madinah, Hafiz said. He also said that the reason the patient was transferred to a private hospital in Madinah because of the agreement between the ministry and the private sector, which allows for such transfers with the ministry covering the expenses.
