Madinah Health Affairs rejects claims against private hospital

The Health Affairs Department in Madinah has rebutted the claims of a pharmacist who alleged corruption and hundreds of fatal medical errors at a private hospital in Madinah.
The statement said that the man had been tried and sentenced to six months in prison for using social networking websites to defame the hospital he was sacked from as a result of his incompetence. He was recently released after he was included in a royal amnesty after serving four months of the sentence.
"Nevertheless, he continued perpetrating the same offense that harmed the reputation of the whole health care sector in the region," the statement said.
Health Affairs said it is the agency supervising medical services in the region, including the hospital in question.
The statement said that a special Ministry of Health committee had investigated the man’s complaints that had been reported in local media on Tuesday.
The committee carried out several inspections over a period of 12 months and reported that the accusations were baseless. Another committee carried out additional inspections for six months and finally approved the findings of the first committee.
The department said it might take legal action against the allegations in the local newspaper against a senior official. The pharmacist alleged that an official received bribes from the hospital as an exchange for repeated visits.