A patient who was discharged after treatment in a government hospital refused to leave, yelling that he was staying in “a house of the government” and that nobody had the right to drive him out of it. The man was one example of a phenomenon that has started to unfold in state-run hospitals. Many patients who were treated and have recovered prefer to stay among doctors and nurses rather than go back to their homes. Some patients have stayed in hospitals for months after getting discharged, despite efforts by social workers to get them to leave and contacts with their families. Some families support these patients by refusing to come and get them, Al-Madina Arabic newspaper said. Their actions create nursing and medical burdens for hospitals, consume their capacities and deprive other patients of treatment. It was difficult to talk to these patients who insist on staying in hospitals; they were reluctant to discuss their reasons for not leaving. An African man who is mentally unstable and has no identification documents is staying in a hospital's male-surgery section, a head nurse said. “This patient was admitted to the ICU because of a car accident,” the nurse said. “He stayed in the unit for three weeks and nobody came to receive him. The accident affected him mentally and he became unaware of his actions toward patients and workers.” The man's brother, who also does not have proper documents, was with him at first, but never came back after the patient recovered, the nurse added. A 50-year-old Saudi who has diabetes was admitted to the hospital after he cut his foot, but he has refused to leave, the nurse said. She said the man told her he “would never leave this place.” “His condition is stable and the doctors approved his discharge more than a month ago, but he refuses to get out and his family refuses to pick him up,” she said. “Now he has been here for three months. Nobody can deal with him. He yells at doctors and nurses, interferes with other patients' treatment and encourages other patients not to leave the hospital.” A number of patients said they were annoyed by people who have been discharged and refuse to leave. “They have no health problems, unlike us,” one patient said. They called on the Ministry of Health to develop ways to force those who have been discharged to vacate the hospital beds so they can used for needy patients. Muhammad Al-Ahmadi, Social Service director at a government hospital, said his department studies the conditions of patients who refuse to leave. “We then try to convince them to leave and offer to help them financially and socially,” he said. “We also contact their families and talk to them about the need for people to leave and free up the beds for other patients.” Al-Ahmadi said the hospital implements a home-visit program, adding that a committee formed by the Jeddah governor visits patients who refuse to leave and their families, and discusses the matter with them. The committee is made up of members from the Police, Passports Department, Health Affairs and the Governor's Office, he added. Muhammad Ba Jubair, Director of Al-Thaghar Hospital in Jeddah, said his facility receives victims of most of the car accidents on the Jeddah-Makkah Highway. The presence of patients who refuse to leave “causes a crisis in bed capacity, given the fact that many accident victims need hospitalization,” he said. “We try to convince them that they do not need to stay,” he said. “When they refuse, we file the matter with the Health Affairs to deal with them,” he said.
