A Pakistani residing in Sabt Al-Alaya, 120 km north of Bisha, claims that his three-month-old daughter is being held by King Abdullah Hospital here because he is not able to pay the hospital bill. Earlier Muhammad Kareem managed to have his wife discharged from the hospital after he paid her SR2,845 delivery charges. But all attempts to get his baby girl Asia released failed as he could not pay the SR27,000 bill. Kareem's wife and other children left for Pakistan to visit their relatives leaving him to his fate along with his baby girl. Narrating his ordeal, he said he went to the hospital to have his wife and baby girl discharged but was taken by surprise as the hospital's management adamantly refused to discharge his wife unless he paid part of the bill besides bringing a guarantor to undertake to pay the remainder of the bill if he failed to do so. His wife was discharged after he paid SR2,845, but his daughter was left in an incubator because she was born premature weighing 600 grams. Kareem claims that Abdullah Sa'eed Al-Ghamdi, spokesman of Bisha Health, who had been following the case, told him to take his daughter. However, Abdul Rahman Al-Saffar, the hospital's financial and administration assistant, made it clear that there was an outstanding bill as Kareem's wife had undergone a Caesarian section and the mother and child had received treatment not covered by the free treatment program. He claimed that the baby girl was being kept in the hospital for her own safety and not because of the outstanding bill as alleged by the father. Al-Saffar said the hospital is keen to have the baby discharged as other babies are in dire need of the incubator which Asia has been occupying for three months. Al-Saffar said the only option is for Kareem to pay the bill, bring a guarantor, sign an undertaking or bring a letter from the medical insurance company which he deals with indicating its consent to pay the bill to end the matter. Kareem said his ordeal with the hospital started when his wife developed labor pains in the seventh month of her pregnancy and he was forced to take her to the hospital where she underwent a Caesarian section.
