AIDS cases in Jeddah have increased by 20 percent when compared to last year, Dr. Sami Badawood, Jeddah's Health Affairs Director, has said. Efforts are under way to assist AIDS patients to get jobs and not be treated as pariahs, Dr. Badawood said. Addressing the media after inaugurating mobile clinics for HIV tests, Badawood said the rise in the AIDS cases in Jeddah is associated with the increase in technical facilities provided for medical tests manifested in the premarital test centers. He said these facilities have made it possible to detect new cases of this deadly disease. Dr. Badawood also warned clinics and hospitals against granting fake medical certificates to foreign workers. “Clinics indulging in this illegal act will be shut down for good and their owners will be severely punished,” he said. He said the continuation of the awareness campaigns is a must as they enlighten the public about how people should protect themselves from AIDS and the stigma attached to it. Meanwhile, Dr. Khaled Abdul Wahab, a noted dermatologist, has alerted the public to the potential risks of barbershops pointing out that barbers deceive the public regarding the devices they use in sterilizing razors and scissors. He warned that viral diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis B can be transmitted by instruments barbers use in shaving and cutting customers' hair. The way the barbers sterilize their instruments including combs is not effective enough to eliminate organisms and viruses, he said. Dr. Khalid said the temperature of the devices barbers use to sterilize their instruments is insufficient to kill the germs. He said barbers use inferior quality of sterilizing devices putting their customers at great risk. He said some barbers use lighter's flame to sterilize the razors while others use small stoves and pour cologne onto the razors. “By doing so they just deceive their customers because such methods will never help in eliminating the germs,” he said. He also urged parents to select clean saloons or buy special instruments for their children to protect them from diseases transmitted by barbers' instruments. – Okaz __
