MADINAH — A British doctor who used to work for a Madinah cardiac center took to Twitter to criticize the hospital, claiming it suffered from serious deficiencies and shortcomings, Al-Watan newspaper reported. She criticized procedures to sterilize medical equipment and surgical clothes in the center and the absence of a policy to fight hospital-acquired infections. She also referred to the high levels of bacteria in the hospital's various sections. She alleged authorities in the hospital didn't care about the credibility of the AIDS and hepatitis lab tests. The center suffered from a lack of training programs for medical staff, especially nurses, she claimed. Most nurses working in the hospital did not pass a mandatory test by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, she said. The Health Ministry's rules do not allow anyone to practice in the field without obtaining the commission's permit. She also alleged authorities do not allow Saudi graduates to join the center. Some doctors who refused to give their names said substandard procedures involving the sterilization of medical equipment, surgical instruments and clothes forced some of the medical staff to sterilize them at their own homes. They said they were prepared to testify to any committee investigating the alleged shortcomings in the hospital, especially as there were some non-Saudi technicians and doctors working without permits. Madinah Health Affairs issued a statement on Wednesday denying the doctors' allegations. In the statement it said the center has so far offered its services to 18,000 patients and admitted more than 3,245 patients. It said doctors performed 207 operations on 158 patients, adding four patients died during surgery. Death rates were 2.5 percent, while the international rates are between 3 and 6 percent, the department claimed. It said not a single infection case was reported in the past nine months. Responding to allegations that medical staff at the hospital were substandard, Madinah Health Affairs said Dr. Ibrahim Farah, an experienced heart surgeon who worked in several cardiac centers in Germany, is the head of the hospital's cardiac department and is assisted by highly trained doctors and surgeons from Britain and Egypt. Nursing staff and technicians working in the hospital are from the Philippines, Pakistan and India and have sound experience in their respective fields, the department said. Labs in the center have so far conducted 92,573 tests, the statement said, adding the tests' results are dispatched electronically to ensure there is no margin for error. The department said there is an integrated section for the sterilization of medical and surgical equipment, run by highly qualified Saudi staff. The hospital's recruitment section employed 51 Saudi technicians, it claimed. Administrative sources in the center said the British doctor submitted four reports to the center's director pinpointing the areas that needed to be addressed.
