A nurse at King Fahd Hospital in Tabuk who was transferred to a health center without her knowledge while she was on compassionate leave following the death of her father has described the move as an “abuse of authority”. The 25-year-old nurse attributed the transfer to a “settling of scores” after the Ministry of Health took the side of the nurse and three female colleagues in a previous case concerning “abuse in an official meeting”. “I did not ask for a transfer and was not informed of it until I returned from leave,” the nurse said, adding that the deputy head of Tabuk Health Affairs responded to her enquiries over the issue by saying the transfer is irrevocable. “The amazing thing is that there have been loads of transfer requests from nurses that have been turned down on the grounds that the hospital is short-staffed.” The spokesman for Tabuk Health Affairs said, however, that it had not been informed of a complaint in the case. “The nurse has to go along with the decision and respect work interests,” spokesman Auda Al-Atawi said. “She can present a complaint with accompanying evidence and wait for the matter to be investigated.
