Saeed Al-Khotani Saudi Gazette RIYADH — A 12-year-old girl who was given HIV-infected blood six months ago returned home to Jazan to join her family on Monday after doctors in Riyadh successfully treated her. Reham Hakami was discharged from King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center after two senior physicians at the hospital said she tested negative for the virus. The physicians who treated her were Prof. Sami Al-Hajjar, the head of infectious diseases at the hospital's Department of Pediatrics who supervised the team overseeing Reham's care; and Dr. Timothy Henrich, an HIV expert who was involved in the analysis of the test results and specialist in infectious diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. This physicians gave Reham the all-clear after frequently testing for HIV at King Faisal and coordinating with laboratories in the United States and HIV experts at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Sources told Saudi Gazette that Reham was received by her family at the airport. However, King Faisal Hospital said she would continue to be monitored closely after her discharge. The case resulted in the sacking of seven Ministry of Health employees in the region. They were also fined. The sacked employees included Jazan General Hospital's medical director, director of the laboratory, director of the blood bank and technical supervisor of the blood bank. The coordinator of the AIDS program and the director of labs and blood banks at Jazan Health Affairs were also sacked. The lab technician who administered the tainted blood transfusion was stripped of his license and sacked.
