MADINAH — A team consisting of the police, the health and the social affairs directorates transported an Alzheimer's patient to the elderly home in Madinah. This was in response to the article published by Okaz/Saudi Gazette regarding the patient who was abandoned and left to sleep on the street. The article generated a lot of comments on social networks who sympathized with the elderly man. The patient had been brought by his niece to the mental hospital and abandoned there. The hospital then decided that the patient did not suffer from any mental condition, and should be referred to the social affairs directorate.? The social affairs directorate decided that the patient did not need social care, and thus did not deal with his case. Al-Aziziah Police finally took care of the patient, and notified the Madinah Governorate for a resolution. The supervisor of Madinah Society of Human Rights branch, Sharaf Al-Qarafi, said that the elderly have the right to a decent and honorable life. This right is dictated in Islamic teachings, and is one of the basic human rights Their dignity should be preserved, and they should not be subjected to any form of discrimination, nor negligence. This case, she added, is the responsibility of the Social Affairs Directorate. A team from a human rights organization will visit the patient and discuss his situation with the concerned bodies.
