Amal Hospital which witnessed last week the flight of 15 patients receiving treatment for drug addiction has blamed former management for circumstances he believes led to the incident. Osama Ibrahim said that the patients' treatment program had lagged behind and the standard of hospital staff performance had also fallen. “Failure on the part of some of the staff at the hospital to fulfill their duties towards the patients led to some of the behavior they exhibited, and this is an infringement of patent rights,” Ibrahim said. “The attempt to escape can also be put down to psychological reasons, as the treatment program here is tough, and after several phases the patient feels a strong craving for drugs and wishes to escape to get a dose,” he said. Ibrahim said the drug rehabilitation program at Al-Amal was “one of the best in the world”, describing it as a comprehensive treatment plan conducted by highly qualified staff specialized in addressing all aspects of drugs problems. “The hospital also provides patients with the best nutritional meals,” he said. Ibrahim revealed that the hospital would soon open external drug clinics for female addicts to be followed by internal ones with the facilities to admit female patients. Following last week's attempted escape incident an unnamed member of the hospital's staff criticized “maltreatment” of patients, saying that the rehabilitation program “lacks the necessary modern treatment methods.” The employee also cited “families abandoning patients during the period of treatment” as contributing to their wish to run away from the facility, as well as poor food and catering. It was announced two days ago that an investigation had been set up to investigate how the 15 drug addicts managed to breach security. Some of those who fled were restrained in the vicinity of the hospital and the remaining others were later located at their homes. Sami Badawood, Director of Health Affairs in Jeddah, said that the families of some escapees returned them to Al-Amal to continue treatment but others refused. “None of them have criminal records or are wanted by security authorities,” Badawood said.
