MADINA: The Health Directorate in Madina is to form a committee to investigate allegations that a private hospital here refused to treat people injured in a car accident, resulting in the death of a child. In the complaint, members of the family said the private hospital also refused to release the injured - unless they paid SR1,000 in admission fees - so that they could be taken to a government medical facility. The private hospital's staffers allegedly refused even though some members of the public wanted to transport the injured to the government hospital. Dr. Abdullah Al-Taifi, Director of the Health Affairs department in Madina, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette the committee will probe the incident. If the investigation proves the allegations are genuine, then the directorate will punish the hospital. Family members claimed that the child was badly injured in the accident and bled to death because no treatment was provided. The family consists of a husband and wife and children. The accident took place on the Tabuk/Madina Road. The injured were rushed to the private hospital by a group of citizens. A traffic police patrol rushed to the hospital to investigate the matter and reported the hospital's position to the authorities at the General Directorate in Madina. Khaishan Al-Rasheedi, one of the relatives of the family, said the hospital informed him one of the children died on his way to the hospital. However, Al-Rasheedi claimed that the hospital refused to refer the injured to a government hospital unless the admission fees were paid. He said they tried to convince the staff to treat the injured but the emergency doctor allegedly refused to do so, insisting that the SR1,000 be paid first. When it was already “too late”, they moved to help the victims, claimed Al-Rasheedi. Some traffic police officers also allegedly tried to persuade the emergency doctor and personnel to help the victims, arguing that the Ministry of Health made it mandatory for both private and public hospitals to deal with emergency cases because the ministry would subsequently cover the medical costs. The child's body was moved to a morgue at King Fahd Hospital in Madina.
