By Mohammed Daoud

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — During a five-day intensified campaign, the Health Ministry inspectors have discovered as many as 1,884 violations in the emergency rooms of private hospitals in the country.

According to the ministry, 878 of the violations concerned a severe shortage of emergency equipment and medicines, while there were 379 cases of failure in infection control and181cases of health practitioners without license. It said 47 private hospitals were found working without proper permits.

On its official Twitter account, the ministry said 204 violations concerned a lack of suitable ambulances, 149 violations were about the minimum number of essential medical cadres and 46 violations involved the absence of well-equipped isolation rooms.

The ministry, which conducted its inspection tour from Jan. 66 to 10, said the violations were committed by as many as 637 emergency wardens of private hospitals.

It said out of a total of 1,082 emergency rooms in private hospitals, only 445 conformed to the rules and regulations.

The ministry said it would continue its inspection tours of private hospitals until the rate of violations comes down to zero. It made it clear that it was placing high importance on inspections to ascertain that the services being extended to the patients are of high standard.

Meanwhile, Okaz/Saudi Gazette discovered a number of violations in the Health Ministry’s hospitals themselves.

Dr. Sami Sulaim Al-Rihaili, director of the maternity and children’s hospital in Madinah, admitted the loopholes in the emergency rooms of the hospital but attributed this to the immense pressure.

“The pressure is understandable as this is the only specialist hospital in the region,” he said.

Hussain Al-Mutairi and Miteb Rabeea said the patients find difficulties in the emergency section of the hospital as they have to wait for long hours to be seen by a doctor.

They said the pace of the work is extremely slow and the outpatient clinics are unable to receive the large number of patients.

In Jazan’s government hospitals, patients are found squatting in the passages waiting for beds in the emergency sections to be vacated.

A number of patients said they suffered for a long time due to the lack of qualified medical cadres and required medical equipment.

Abdul Ilah Muaafa said patients lost confidence in the emergency ward of Jazan Central Hospital as their suffering was increasing day by day.

He said King Fahd Central Hospital in Jazan, which is the largest hospital in the region, has one emergency doctor and one lab technician.

“Though big and spacious, the hospital is unable to extend medical services to the large number of patients visiting it,” he said, while asking the region’s department of health affairs to listen to citizens who are complaining of substandard medical services.

The situation is not different in government hospitals in Abu Areesh, Sabya and Uhud Al-Masarha where people are not happy with the emergency services. There are no enough beds in the emergency sections of these hospitals, especially for women.

Ahmed Al-Jabri said what was happening in the emergency ward of Al-Aridha Hospital was far from the medical services the patients were looking for. “There are not enough clinics, emergency doctors or beds,” he added.

Sultan Rifaie and Turki Saiegh said patients wait for long hours at the emergency section in Abu Areesh Hospital before they receive inadequate medical services.

“For how long would the health department in the city continue giving false promises?” residents of Jazan ask.

They said a number of health projects including the Jazan Specialist Hospital and the Maternity and Children’s Hospital were faltering for many years.

A number of residents of Uhud Rufaidah said their repeated requests for upgrading the emergency section of the city’s hospital went unheeded.

They said there were only one male and one female doctor for the hundreds of patients coming to the emergency room every day.