TAIF – The Mental Health Hospital in Taif, the largest such facility in the Kingdom, is facing an acute shortage of beds as families refuse to take home patients who have recovered. At present there are 670 patients, 232 women of women, in the hospital. Amina Abutaleb, how is head of the nursing department, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the hospital lacked beds to accommodate new patients as most inmates do not leave the facility after recovery. "This demands the establishment of a rehabilitation center near the hospital," she said, adding that it should be provided with necessary manpower including psychologists, sociologists and nurses. She estimated the number of inmates whom their families have refused to accept at 456. She said 230 of these patients are from the Makkah province while the rest are from outside the region. "We have requested the Health Affairs to allocate budget for establishing rehab facilities for patients and increase salaries of nurses who take care of them," she said. Okaz/Saudi Gazette toured the hospital and met with the patients, who included a 90-year-old woman. The hospital has a fully-fledged section for women patients. There are 28 elderly women among the patients who need better social and medical care. One patient has spent more than 38 years in the hospital. Another patient who is now aged 28 was brought to he hospital when she was only 13. The delay in completing renovation of the women's section has created an accommodation crisis for both patients and workers. "Our problems with patients have exacerbated due to a lack of cooperation between the ministries of health, labor and social development," Abutaleb said. She commended Saudi female nurses for the outstanding care they give to patients. "They provide patients personal care and services such as cleaning, changing and feeding them. We are happy to provide this humanitarian service in the best possible manner," Abutaleb said. There are five sections in the hospital's women's ward: the first one is for patients who require long-term care; the second is for new cases where they stay for a few months before being transferred to other sections; the third and fifth are for long stay; while the fourth is for patients who are insane and require prolonged stay. Abutaleb emphasized the need to transfer patients in the first section to social care homes or recovery centers to create room for new cases. She underscored the tiresome jobs of nurses at the hospital. "Many nurses have got back pain as a result of carrying elderly patients and some of them have become victims of violence by patients. The nurses support about 40 elderly women who cannot even walk, she explained. "We have started receiving transfers from hospitals outside the province in recent years," Abutaleb said. "Some cases are transferred from Makkah hospitals during the Haj season." Psychiatrist Aisha Al-Qasmi said most inmates were suffering from depression. She blamed families for 90 percent of health complications of patients as they do not provide them with required care. "We have got some cases transferred from prisons and we deal with them according to the rules and regulations. We have to give daily reports about them to the jail authorities," she said. Al-Qasmi pointed out that some patients, who were held by police for committing murder or other serious crimes, claim they were not mentally well at the time of incident. "This is one of the difficult situations we face," said the psychiatrist, adding that there are scientific mechanisms to find out whether the patient's claim was true or not. Sociologist Marwa Mohammed Noor emphasized the need to set up charity programs to take care of patients abandoned by their families. "Some female patients try to run away from the hospital using different tricks, but we keep all information about patients highly confidential," said. Najla Al-Otaibi spoke about other facilities at the hospital. "We have a section to take care of a woman's appearance, including haircut," she said. Nurses will also help women patients clean and comb their hair, cut their nails and decorate their hands with henna. "Many patients want to continue in the hospital after recovery as they find the life inside the hospital more comfortable. We were surprised when a woman patient who had returned home came back to hospital on an Eid day to celebrate the occasion with her former friends." Al-Otaibi said the hospital is facing a considerable shortage in staff to take care of patients. "We have only 166 nurses who work in three shifts to cover all the five sections as well as the emergency ward," she pointed out. Family members are allowed to visit patients from 3 to 9 p.m. daily.
