JEDDAH — A week after the Health Ministry's decision to close down the Maternity and Children Hospital in Musaadiyah district, the Health Affairs Directorate in Jeddah has put the decision on hold. The directorate said evacuation of patients and transfer of the hospital's medical cadres will be postponed until the special committees formed to take over the task have finished their work. The committees faced a flurry of objections from a number of doctors, technicians and nurses against their transfer to other hospitals in the city. A source, however, said transfer of medical cadres will be effected regardless of their objections. "Our main preoccupation now is to benefit from these cadres to cover the shortage in the other hospitals in Jeddah," he said. There are 316 patients confined to the hospital, including 62 in the intensive care unit. The hospital has a medical cadre of over 1,700 consisting of doctors, technicians, nurses and administrators. The hospital has 254 beds in addition to the beds in the ICU and the emergency ward. It also has more than 40,000 medical files. The hospital has already stopped receiving patients either at the emergency ward or the outpatient clinics. It is, however, still receiving patients with imminent scheduled appointments providing them with free medication. The source said patients with far away appointments will be informed by telephone that their appointments have been canceled and will be directed to other hospitals. "It is not easy to evacuate such a large hospital in such a short time," he added. A technical committee comprising eight engineers from the department and the Civil Defense has recommended the closure of the hospital because its building was on the verge of collapse.
