Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — The emergency room at King Fahd General Hospital in Jeddah is experiencing many problems in catering to emergency patients. Dr. Salem Ba Salamah, the hospital's director, said there are efforts to find urgent solutions to the problems. Okaz/Saudi Gazette sources reveal that the number of medical personnel in the emergency unit cannot deal with the volume of cases. In addition, there are no available beds to handle patients. There should be one nurse for every emergency case, but only two nurses are available to handle 11 cases. Patients are received in a preliminary sorting area that has only eight beds for men and women, and they are attended by only one doctor and a nurse. There was a patient in need of intensive care; he was revived in the hallway and remained there for three hours until a bed became available. The emergency unit of the Maternity and Children's Hospital witnessed an influx of patients during the weekend, most of them coming with respiratory problems. Dr. Ahmad Al-Harbi, the hospital director, said there were 348 cases on Thursday and 200 cases on Friday. Most of the cases were children suffering from respiratory problems, and there were also number of women who gave birth.
