The National Society for Human Rights has followed the fire Jazan General Hospital and offered its sincere condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Crown Prince and the Deputy Crown Prince as well as to the families of the victims and wishing the injured speedy recovery.  In addition, after a fact-finding visit to the site and investigating the cause of the fire, the Society wishes to make the following clear: –

The services provided to citizens, by the health sector, do not reflect neither the interest of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Abdul-Aziz, may God protect him, nor the State’s huge budget allocation for this sector. To illustrate, the Society has noted that the main causes of this fire were negligence, shortcomings in the monitoring, lack of coordination between those related to security and safety, the closure of the emergency exits, and some of the administrative and bureaucratic procedures in decision-making and in providing the necessary funds to meet the security and safety requirements on time. Moreover, the absence of the main and subcontractors’ oversight and follow-up for the implementation of these actions have a great impact on the non-fulfillment of the basic requirements for such utilities. Emphasizing the Society on the importance of accountability for negligence, it indicates that there are several shortcomings and deficiencies in the health services, which have been monitored over the past periods, and it hopes that the officials in the Ministry of Health will work to avoid them so as to ensure citizens get their right to treatment such as:

1-    Lax security and safety requirements in health facilities, lack of monitoring and follow-up, difficulties in maintenance and insufficient attention regarding the training of personnel in these facilities on how to deal with emergency situations, especially in case of fire.

2-    Many hospitals and health facilities, especially in remote provinces, suffer from the lack of specialized medical staff and weakness in the possibilities.

3-    Poor coordination between different health sectors either belonging to the Ministry of Health or the military sectors or universities, which would contribute to increased performance or taking advantage of the possibilities as appropriate.

4-    Weakening efficiency of the administrative and medical cadre in many health facilities.

5-    Lack of beds which prevent providing necessary healthcare to those who need it and it causes deterioration of the health condition of patients and the request of patient’s relatives to coordinate and search for vacant beds to move their relative to.

6-    Delayed access of patients to medical care in the appropriate time and place as well as the delayed clinics and operations for periods of up to one year.

7-    Continuity of some hospitals in refusing emergent medical cases demanding from the ambulatory authorities or the patient’s relatives to take them away and in the meantime the health condition of the patient may deteriorate and s/he may pass away before it arrives to another place, although there are instructions that the patient should be referred to the health institutions in the private sector when the bed is not available in the State hospitals.

8-    Increased mortality and the spread of certain diseases in recent years in some areas without clarifying the precise reasons for this alarming increase.

9-    Continuity of health centers in rented premises, which are mostly old and damaged and unfit to provide health care as well as the low level of employees, whether the doctors, technicians or administrators.

10-     Weakening rehabilitation of the administrative support cadre for medical staff in many hospitals.

11-     Complaints from some hospitals of lacing medical equipment. The existing ones are old and poorly maintained, despite the allocation of huge budgets.

12-     High rate of medical errors in hospitals in the provinces and the absence of a mechanism regarding that depending on the patient or its relatives’ complaints.

13-     The lack of clear strategy in the health sector where the plans change with the rotation of officials in the ministry.

14-     The need of providing the hospitals or health centers in some remote areas and villages that are not running, with the necessary medical staff, which deprived the population of those areas of its benefits.

15-      Shortage of medicine in hospitals’ pharmacies and the necessity for some citizens to buy them themselves.

16-     Inexistence of specialized research centers in some regions where some epidemics abound.

17-     Inadequate emergency centers in hospitals.

Though the Society appreciates that His Excellency the Minister of Health has taken the responsibility for the fire of Jazan General Hospital, it calls for urgent and comprehensive treatment to the obstacles and difficulties that hamper the citizen’s right to health care, accounting the negligent and reviewing the security and safety controls and the mechanics of its maintenance in health facilities.

The National Society for Human Rights