Abdo Khal

Okaz

 

MANY ministers took over the reins of the Health Ministry. Each one of them brought to us the good news that North Jeddah Hospital would soon be opened. When the time of the opening came, we would be given a new date for the event.



The delayed opening of the hospital reminds us of the appointment system in government hospitals. You will be lucky when a date is fixed for you to see a doctor. Your illness may get worse or you may die before your turn comes to see the doctor.



The residents of Jeddah received many empty promises concerning development projects. Among many others, these include the new airport, the sewage project, the metro, the public transport scheme and the Haramain Express Train.



None of these projects was executed in a timely manner and the ready-made excuse was that the projects were faltering because of the contractors.



The Health Ministry cannot say that the North Jeddah Hospital was faltering. The building has been completed and is standing erect like a big monument.



Jeddah, a big city with a dense population, needs a general hospital that will be able to cater to the medical needs of its residents and those of nearby areas.



The scarcity of government hospitals in the Kingdom was dealt with by the Health Ministry through bombastic statements that many new hospitals would soon be opened in various parts of the Kingdom. The North Jeddah Hospital is definitely one of those new projects that have not so far seen the light.



We felt happy when the hospital was used as quarantine for people infected by the coronavirus that causes the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. When the virus receded, the hospital went back to its deep slumber.



The scant government hospitals are overcrowded with patients. The emergency section of King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah, for instance, receives a daily average of about 500 patients. How can doctors work under these conditions? The government hospitals in other regions are no exception.



Under these circumstances it is not unusual for medical mistakes to happen. They will be understandable. The doctors and nurses are doing their best to serve the patients and avoid any errors but the prevailing conditions in hospitals are not helping them to do their work properly.



It is human to err. However, they often result from the insufficient facilities and equipment. The prevailing conditions in the hospitals will not help doctors do their work properly without committing errors. Big hospitals with large bed capacities should be constructed to deal with the large number of patients. Every big city in our country needs at least five or six central government hospitals. The mistake of the Health Ministry is that it has not built big hospitals that will cater to the needs of the growing number of patients.



Every time there is talk about a new hospital anywhere in the Kingdom, people will immediately remember North Jeddah Hospital, which has been built but not made operational so far.