Health, Interior share half of 640 complaints before NSHR

Saudi Gazette report DAMMAM — Departments affiliated to the ministries of interior and health have together shared more than half of 640 administrative complaints raised before the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) in 2014, the society revealed in a report published by local daily Al-Watan on Tuesday. It said the complaints against Interior Ministry departments constituted 29.5 percent of all the administrative cases while those against departments in the Health Ministry constituted 21.5 percent. The society said 198 complaints it had received were against 19 departments of the Interior Ministry. The Passport Department alone had 29 complaints against it, followed by the Police Department with 28 complaints. The NSHR said there were 27 complaints against various governorates and 24 against the Interior Ministry itself. The society said the administrative complaints against the Health Ministry reached 135, including 60 against government hospitals, 53 against the directorates of health affairs in various regions, 21 against the ministry itself and one case against the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. The NSHR said the administrative complaints were part of 2,838 human rights issues it had received during 2014.