Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi I received my cousin's desperate call while I was about to take my afternoon siesta. His psychologically disturbed son was at it again. This time the young man was not just throwing his sisters' bags and clothes in the street, or threatening his younger siblings with a stick, or pushing his cousin's car from behind just because it parked at his favorite spot. This time he took revenge on another car — his uncle BMW — and broke all its windows. His father was terrified and disparate. “What can I do? I cannot afford putting him into a private mental hospital. They are too expensive, and almost broke me last time. And the public hospital is always fully-booked,” he was crying. The immediate problem that faced me was to get the heavy built 100-kilo young man to come with us to the hospital. For him, we were the mentally ill, evil-minded, and violent-prone people. The poor boy, was just not knowing what he was doing to himself and his family. Unlike the rest of the civilized world, the hospital does not have the facilities to bring in dangerous mental patients. And since there was a proven act of violence, I advised the father to call the police. To our pleasant surprise, it didn't take them seven minutes to arrive. The boy sensed the danger and drove his car away. The police called for backup and found him within fifteen minutes. Four cars surrounded his car, and the kind, wise officer persuaded him to turn himself in peacefully. The police station called to make sure everything went as we wished for, and asked us to rate the service from one to four in the automated system. Of course, they got full mark! Then, they called the Red Crescent, which was not as fast, but efficient and helpful enough to help in taking our patient, with police escort, to the Mental Hospital. Hours later we were in the emergency room trying to convince the doctors to find us a bed. After midnight, someone was discharged, and our patient took his place. A relief! Not so fast! Two weeks later, they discharged every patient because it was Eid Al-Adha! After Eid it was another battle to bring the patient back with the help of the police. When we finally got him there — on time — we were told: Sorry .. the bed is gone! In a moment of desperation I called the General Manager of the Health Ministery, Makkah Region, Dr. Sami Badawood. He was nice enough to listen and promise to solve the problem. “Go to the Administration Office now and you will find a bed ready for your patient!,” he said. Unfortunately, he was lying! And worse, he blocked my calls and SMS so I won't bother him again! It is unbelievable that Jeddah, Makkah and the surrounding areas, with its millions of inhabitants (3.5 millions in Jeddah) has only 100 beds for its mental patients in a hospital that was built over half a century ago. It is unbelievable that the officials would keep promising a new hospital with much bigger facilities for ages, and not to deliver on their promises. What is even worse, is the fact that lies and broken promises are being tolerated by all of us: Media, human rights organizations and other concerned societies, such as Nazaha for decades. It is like that the Health Ministry is not part of the same government as the Interior Ministry that keeps going from one hight to another, improving its service quality beyond even our demands and expectations. The Health Ministery is breaking even its own set rules and commitments. According to said rules, which was confirmed by Dr. Badawood in previous occasion, the ministry must provide beds in private hospitals if they fail to have enough in its own. But to avoid doing so, they either refuse to admit the seriousness of the problem, lie to patients about solutions, or hide the rules from them. If I sound angry, dear readers, it is because I am. The issue is about responsibility and sense of honor and duty toward the citizenry. With tens of billions in the their coffers, and the full support of the King and his strict and repeated directions to do their utmost to serve and cover all needs and requirements, I can't find a single excuse for the continuous failure of this ministry, at least in the region I am most familiar with, Makkah Region, to do what they were hired and paid to do. In Japan when disasters hit as a result of mismanagement, top managers take the blame and resign. Some even kill themselves. I can't help wishing something like this is copied here. Maybe then the cleanup miracle we are looking for will be realized! – Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi can be reached at [email protected] and be followed at Twitter: @kbatarfi.
