An expatriate patient was temporarily held at a private hospital in Madinah for failing to pay SR100,000 in medical bills. He has since been released following the intervention of the Department of Health Affairs, local media said.
Muddathir Ibrahim said he was admitted to a private hospital after feeling fatigued and remained there under observation for a couple of days and, due to his worsening condition, was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) with an immediate recommendation for transfer to a government hospital.
After having spent 22 days in hospital, including 12 in the ICU, the treating doctor recommended his discharge but asked for treatment fees worth more than SR100,000 covering medical tests, ICU services and medications, he told an Arabic daily.
The hospital management demanded payment of the money as a precondition for discharging him and, accordingly, he sought the help of his friends and collected one third of the amount. Dissatisfied with that, the hospital management threatened to call the police unless he paid the remaining amount, a matter that forced him to leave the room and stay in the lobbies to avoid possible accumulation of the treatment bill, he said.
He added that the hospital never gave him a prescription and bargained with him to sign the discharge documents. Upon reading the details, he discovered there was no costs of treatment or duration, nor any procedures taken to transfer him to a government hospital.
He said he filed a petition to the Department of Health Affairs in Madinah which gained a positive reaction, with the department agreeing to help solve the problem through the settling of treatment costs starting from the date when he was advised to be referred to a government hospital.
Patient detained at hospital for failing to pay bill
