Saad Al-Shamrani Okaz/Saudi Gazette When Amina Bawazir suffered a massive heart attack, King Saud University administrators reportedly prevented male paramedics from entering the campus to provide first aid and take her to the hospital. After fighting for life for nearly an hour, Amina breathed her last. No attempts were made to save her life. In another incident, a girl died when an electric lamp exploded. All attempts by her sister to call paramedics were to no avail. Elsewhere, parents of a female student at Jazan University lodged a complaint against the dean of the faculty for refusing to allow an ambulance to enter the campus after the girl fell unconscious due to low blood sugar. Subsequently, the girl's classmates rushed her outside the university campus and took her to the hospital. Twelve years ago, 15 girl students were killed and more than 50 suffered injuries in a blaze at a school in Makkah and there were complaints that the schoolgirls were stopped from leaving the burning building and rescue workers were prevented from entering the campus on the pretext that the girls were not wearing the proper Islamic dress at the time. In the midst of such reports, there have been differing opinions on whether or not rescue workers have the right to enter girls' campuses or female-only workplaces in the event of a tragedy or emergency. There is still a small segment of society, including women, who vehemently oppose the entry of male rescue workers to save victims of such tragedies. Some even argue that the handling of victims who are “improperly dressed” by male rescue workers is worse than leaving them to die. However, speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, several senior officials strongly refuted these arguments. Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, president of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA), said that causing the death of anyone by denying him or her emergency medical care, regardless of the pretext, is not acceptable in the religion of Islam as well as in the Kingdom's laws. “Every moment of delay in giving first aid to the victim reduces his or her chances of living and this cannot be tolerated. The religion of Islam emphasizes the need for safeguarding the health of human beings and there is a principle that necessity knows no law,” he said. Prince Faisal said the SRCA will refer complaints against officials who prevent emergency crews from carrying out their duties to the concerned authorities. He also urged citizens to extend support to rescue teams and strive to save the lives of those injured in accidents and other tragedies. He also directed the government and private agencies as well as schools, universities and women-only commercial centers to provide training to their female employees on first aid and rescue missions. Mazen Al-Ghamdi, director of technical affairs at SRCA, described the act of preventing rescue workers from saving victims of accidents and tragedies as “inhumane” and underlined the need for granting rescue workers access to all facilities so they can save lives. According to Muneera Al-Mazroui, director general of the department for women's divisions at SRCA, her department is keen on hiring and training women rescue workers. “We are exerting all efforts to enable them to play a big role in attending to victims of tragedies as well as in extending them first aid and saving their lives. The department is providing training and carrying out awareness programs, while also encouraging women to take classes on handling emergency cases,” she said. Prominent legal consultant, Muhammad Al-Wuhaibi, said family members of those who die without receiving first aid because entry was denied to rescue workers, can take those responsible to court. “In such cases, those who are responsible for the death, shall pay blood money to the family members of the deceased,” he said. Brig. Gen. Salem Al-Matrafi, director of Civil Defense in Jeddah, said the Kingdom's laws allow Civil Defense personnel to attend the scene of an accident and attempt a rescue mission. “For this, we need not seek the permission of the concerned authorities because in such cases, time is important and every second that passes only increases the likelihood of someone losing their life.”
