JEDDAH: Construction work on a new 500-bed psychiatric hospital in Jeddah is expected to begin soon, the head of Health Affairs Sami Badawoud said Wednesday. Badawoud made the announcement at opening of the 7th Conference on Psychiatry in Jeddah and, according to Al-Watan Arabic daily, said that the Ministry of Health had sent a number of Saudi psychiatrists abroad for further advanced training. Muhammad Shawoush, Deputy Chairman of the Saudi Society for Psychiatry, spoke at the event on the issue of child abuse, which he described as “a kind of addiction needing treatment”. “Studies on child abuse show that most offenders were themselves victims of rape during childhood,” he said. “That leads them to exacting a form of revenge when they grow older.” Shawoush urged families of victims to secure psychological treatment for the children to prevent future psychological disturbances.
