Saleh Al-Turigee Okaz We are back to square one after the latest medical tragedy that rocked the social media. The social networking websites displayed a video clip showing blood samples stored in the toilets of outpatient clinics at King Fahd Hospital in Madinah. An individual captured the scene on his iPhone and then uploaded it on YouTube. The newspapers picked up the clip and published it on their electronic editions. Director of Madinah Health Affairs Dr. Abdullah Al-Taifi finally moved to act and relieved the director of the outpatients clinics' laboratory from his post. He also referred the director of the outpatients clinics and the director of the entire hospital's labs for investigation. He asked for the immediate removal of the cupboard containing the samples from its place in the toilets. On Monday, the director of Madinah Health Affairs publicly apologized to the city's residents and said he would not allow any slackness in the execution of regulations and instructions issued by the Ministry of Health. Therefore, and simply put, the director of the outpatients clinics' lab was made responsible for the irregularity. Is this a fair decision? The relieving of the poor man would have been accepted if it was the director of the hospital's labs who had discovered the mistake. He is the supervisor of all the labs and the direct boss of the relieved man. The decision to fire the director of the outpatient clinics' lab would have also been accepted if it was the general director of the hospital who had discovered the mishap. The decision would have been approved by the public if it was the director of Madinah Health Affairs who had discovered the error. The fact that the mistake was discovered by a citizen or a low-level employee makes the apology and the punitive action taken by the director of Madinah Health Affairs meaningless. It was only an attempt by Al-Taifi, who is in charge of all health services in Madinah, to absolve himself of any responsibility. If we do not want the same mistake to be repeated, we should not allow the official in charge of health affairs to investigate himself. He will no doubt absolve himself of any responsibility. The price will be paid by the director of the outpatient clinics' lab, who might have been asked to find a place to put the samples and told to do it himself. He did not find an empty place to put the samples except the toilets.
