Al-Madina Hospital crisis reflects the health sector reality in Saudi
The tragic incident of the Madinah General Hospital, which resulted in the death of 13 people due to the lack of oxygen, reflected the extent of the poor government health services in the Kingdom.
Social media in Saudi Arabia revealed widespread anger after announcing the death incident inside Al-Madina General Hospital, amid great secrecy from the Saudi regime over the tragedy.
Saudis complain day after day about poor government health services in a country that spends billions of dollars on arms deals and festivals of corruption and decay.
Saudi activists are circulating videos of poor health services in the Kingdom, and others tell their painful stories in these hospitals and government centres.
Saudi Leaks revealed that the Saudi regime approved the construction of the Medina General Hospital in 2006, and in 2008 it was established as the first specialized hospital.
In 2014, it was converted into a general hospital. In 2019 it gradually opened with 50 beds capacity, and in the following year, it was expanded to treat 200 patients.
In 2021, the hospital witnessed an imbalance in the oxygen distribution in a situation that reflects the reality of the hospital, the poor health services and the extent of the government’s disregard for the lives of the Saudi people.
For inference, the Saudi regime’s spending data during 2020 showed a major imbalance by focusing on military deals at the expense of health and education services, which negatively affects the Kingdom’s citizens and expatriates.
The results of the Kingdom’s budget showed a deficit of about 34 billion riyals and a decline in public revenues by about 22% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, and public expenditures increased during the same comparison period by 4%.
The data of the Ministry of Finance indicated that the results of the first quarter of 2020 increased public debt amounting to 46 billion riyals.
It is striking in the detailed budget performance figures for the first quarter of 2020 that military spending increased by 6% over the same period in 2019.
But the most dangerous thing is the decline in spending on health and social development by 13% when the Kingdom is facing health burdens in light of the Corona crisis.
The budget data of the Saudi system during the first half of 2020 also showed that health services and social transfers to the poor are the most affected by the spending cuts due to the reckless policies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The reduction in spending, especially on public services, came due to the oil price war ignited by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with Russia, the decline in oil prices, and the decline in global demand for crude as a result of the Corona pandemic, which affected the economies of the world except
According to data published by the Saudi Ministry of Finance, spending on public services, especially the health and social development sector, declined in the first half by more than a fifth (22 per cent) to 76.38 billion riyals ($20.36 billion) from 98.2 billion riyals ($26.2 billion) in the first half of the year. 2019.
