Patients receive dialysis treatment at the Kidney Center at King Fahd Hospital in Madinah after the Kidney Center's main cooling and air conditioning units broke down. On left, one of the air conditioning units that is out of service. — Okaz photos Sami Al-Maghamsi Okaz/Saudi Gazette MADINAH – The breakdown of the main cooling and air conditioning units at the Kidney Center at King Fahd Hospital in Madinah left around 60 patients who were undergoing peritoneal dialysis treatment, in sweltering heat. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the women's section of the Kidney Center had not been functioning for the past week. They said the delay was caused by the unavailability of spare parts for the hospital's central air conditioning system. Dr. Badr Al-Humaid, Director of the Kidney Center at King Fahd Hospital, asked journalists to visit the center and see the problem on the ground and meet Hamad Al-Ahmadi, Duty Director, who said the air-conditioning units in the women's section were being repaired. He said the required spare parts were obtained from outside the hospital as they were not available in the hospital's maintenance department. Okaz/Saudi Gazette met with the hospital's director, Abdulaziz Shehata who declined to give a statement on the problem and said the spokesman at the Directorate of Health Affairs in Madinah should be contacted. “Write on the real situation you have seen with impartiality,” he said. Hamid Al-Harbi, one of the kidney patients undergoing dialysis, said the breakdown made conditions unbearable but patients had not choice but to stay and receive the vital treatment.
