Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Hospital Shut After Botched Operation



Tuesday, 16 January 2007
The Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH/DAMMAM


THE Directorate of Health Affairs in Jeddah has closed down a private hospital after the death of a 20-year-old lady teacher hours after delivery by Caesarian section, reported the Arabic language daily Okaz Monday.
The teacher’s family had filed a complaint to the Directorate of Health Affairs, blaming the hospital for the death. A medical committee formed to look into the matter referred the case to the Shariah Commission for Health Specializations, pointing out medical errors.
The report questioned the need for conducting a Caesarian section, and said the technical staff was incapable of handling critical cases. Consultants evaluated the performance of the hospital during the past years.
Finally, it was decided to close down the hospital as a precautionary measure.
The hospital had ignored the Directorate of Health Affairs earlier warnings after a previous committee last year detected shortcomings and asked the hospital to rectify these.
A committee from the Medical Licenses Administration in Jeddah Health Department closed down all departments of the hospital except the outpatient clinics, laboratory and six rooms, as there were seven patients. The patients are now being supervised by Jeddah Health Department until they are released. Patients have the choice to be transferred to another hospital.
Dr. Mahmood Abdul Jawad, Director of the Medical Licenses Administration in Jeddah Directorate of Health Affairs, said the hospital was sealed as a precautionary measure.
Dr. Yasser Al-Ghamdi, Director of Health Affairs in Makkah Province, followed up the committee while Dr. Abdul Rahman Khayyat, Director of Health in Jeddah supervised it. The committee is chaired by Dr. Mahmood Abdul Jawad, Director of Medical Licenses and its members include Dr. Sa’eed Balubaid, Coordinator of the Private Hospitals Committee at the Medical Licenses Administration and Hamdan Al-Ghamdi, Therapeutic Inspector.
Meanwhile, 11 doctors and nurses were banned from travel after a Saudi national filed a complaint accusing them of causing the death of his 26-year-old wife as a result of a series of medical errors, reported the Arabic language daily Al-Watan Monday.
The matter was taken up for consideration and a special committee was formed to look into the medical errors leading to the death of Mona Salim Al-Washmi in Dammam.

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