Government hospitals would treat emergency cases for foreigners, but for a fee, according to an official who quoted Dr. Sami Badawood, Director of the Health Affairs Department in Makkah. In a new program the Saudi Ministry of Health is implementing, expatriates can get urgent treatment at government hospitals, but only if they pay. The ministry had announced earlier this year that government hospitals would be closed to foreigners, even if they pay for treatment. The ministry had also announced that emergency rooms, which had been run by part-time medical staff, would be shut down. Badawood said the program aims to reopen government hospitals to expatriates to bankroll their development process with improvements and new equipment. Opening up to expatriate money would also help bring in new experts, create new sections and provide adequate amounts of medication and equipment. Now, night-time emergencies of expatriate patients would again be handled by government hospitals, but for payment. The treatment of expatriates in exchange of fees is already underway in several of the Kingdom's provinces, starting with Riyadh, and including Dammam, Taif, Rabigh, Al-Laith and Al-Khunfutha. That will eventually spread over to government hospitals in Jeddah, including King Fahd Hospital, King Abdulaziz Hospital, Al-Oyoon hospital, Al-Thaghr, and the Psychological Health Hospital. “This new decision will be applied only in the evening, where (government hospitals) will receive only urgent cases,” said Badawood. “Even though the system has been restarted for non-Saudis, there are special cases in which the patient cannot afford to pay for such urgent treatment, so they will be treated as Saudis.” However, certain groups of expatriates will also be treated as Saudis, meaning they wouldn't have to pay for treatment, just like Saudis. Those include the pregnant wives of physicians who wish to deliver at government hospitals, as well as domestic workers who are sponsored by Saudi individuals, like housemaids, drivers, cooks, farmers, and guards. Badawood added that such groups also include prisoners, disabled people, orphans, and GCC citizens, as well as the families of Yemenis who live in Najran and could not go back to their home country, non-Saudis on contract with the Ministry of Civil Defense and Aviation, AIDS patients, pilgrims, the non-Saudi wives of Saudi citizens, children of the Saudi wives of non-Saudi men, and non-Saudi students on scholarships at Saudi universities. However, treatment of such cases will exclude dental illnesses, organ transplants, and fertility cases. The new systems will be under the control of the ministry's General Administration for Health Economics, said Badawood. Government hospitals will deposit the revenues from treating expatriates into a local bank. If a hospital makes more than SR100,000 a day, the money should be deposited on the same day. Otherwise, the hospital can make deposits on a weekly basis. __
