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Have we lost our humanity?
LOCAL VIEWPOINT
Last Updated : Tuesday, January 01, 2013 12:36 AM
Abid Khazandar
Al-Riyadh newspaper
PASSERSBY on a street in Madinah were surprised to see a child lying on the pavement after a nearby hospital refused to accept him. His mother was sitting helplessly beside him unable to do anything for her child.
Passersby did not even bother to use their mobile phones to call an ambulance. The scene continued for about 40 minutes until the child's uncle arrived and finally called for an ambulance.
If the attitude of the hospital that refused to accept this emergency case was inhumane, the attitude of the public that gathered around the child and his mother was not any less cruel.
The hospital refused to accept the child because his mother was uninsured and was unable to prove she could pay the cost of treatment.
Private hospitals always make sure that potential patients have insurance or the financial means to pay for treatment before they accept emergency cases. This practice occurs even in cases where death is imminent.
This criminal attitude should be punished under the law. There are clear instructions by the government to all public and private hospitals to accept and treat all emergency cases without any prejudice. Any reluctance by a hospital in this regard should be severely punished. It is obvious that all hospitals, especially private ones, do not heed these standing instructions. This is mostly due to the slackness of health officials to hold these hospitals responsible for their cruel actions.
As far as the case of the child who was turned away goes, the director of public relations at the Department of Health Affairs in Madinah, Abdul Raziq Abdulaziz Hafiz, said a committee was immediately formed to investigate the case and officials at the hospital that refused to accept the child have been questioned.
Hafiz said the dignity of the patient is of vital significance. In my mind the issue is not a matter of dignity, but of life and death. Have we lost our humanity and become dead as stones?
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