JEDDAH — The ex-director of King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah who was sacked after a hospital facility was found lacking in cleanliness and full of insects and cockroaches has claimed innocence and said he was being made a scapegoat. Hammad Shujaa said: “The cockroaches have been living in the convalescence center of the hospital for more than 15 years. “I have written several times about them to the concerned medical authorities.” Shujaa, the director of the center, head nurse and top officials in charge of cleaning and maintenance were all sacked after a video on the social media showed a patient's room in the center with cockroaches and other kinds of insects moving freely. In a quick response to the video, which went viral, Health Minister Khaled Al-Falih took the decision of making the high-profile sackings. The minister also decided to shut down the center's current premises and shift it to a new building in the Musadiyah neighborhood. Shujaa said: “I have been made a scapegoat. I have warned many times about the center's deteriorating conditions and the frightening presence of insects in it.” He said about five months ago he officially informed the ministry about the condition of the center, housed in a rented building, and asked that it be transferred to Al-Thagr Hospital. “My pleas fell on deaf ears but now with the cockroach video going viral, they had to sacrifice me,” he said. The center is a semi-independent facility affiliated to King Fahd Hospital. Its patients will be distributed among government hospitals in Jeddah. The patient's room shown in the video had been locked for more than two weeks. It was only opened when there was no available bed in the hospital for one of the patients. The center has been designated for the admission of disabled and elderly patients, victims of accidents and the employees of the Department of Health Affairs. Shujaa said health ministers over the past 15 years and the heads of health affairs departments were all aware of the center's bad condition.
