Ahmad Abdullah Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Health Affairs officials raided a dental center here recently run by unlicensed and undocumented workers. Sami Badawood, Director of the Health Affairs in Jeddah, said the inspectors had sealed off the center for a number of violations, the primary one being that all the medical staff in the center had been working in the center for a period of eight months without being licensed by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. “The Developed Dentistry Center was being operated by people claiming to be dentists without being licensed from the concerned medical authorities in the Kingdom which is a must for practicing any medical profession in the country,” said an official source at the Health Affairs in Jeddah. Other violations the inspectors found were: the unlicensed doctors not being under the center's sponsorship, no medical director or administrative director, a receptionist living in the Kingdom without a residency permit. Also, the center had no approved means to dispose of hazardous medical waste. Badawood said that since the beginning of Ramadan, medical inspectors at the Health Affairs had been tasked with carrying out inspection tours of all the polyclinics in Jeddah to ensure compliance of rules and regulations. As a result, six polyclinics around Jeddah have been closed and more closings are expected. Tariq Banjr, Director of Medical Licenses at the Ministry of Health, urged all patients, regardless of nationality or gender, to report any medical facility not abiding by Ministry guidelines. — SG
