JEDDAH, 10 March 2008 — The son of a 76-year-old diabetic woman who died allegedly due to malpractice at a private hospital in Jeddah last year is calling on the Health Affairs Directorate to reopen an investigation into her death.

Nizar Binjabi initially filed a complaint against the hospital with the Ministry of Health. The case was then transferred to the Health Affairs Directorate, which found that the hospital’s records did not mention the woman’s cause of death.

The woman had been brought to hospital ill and was diagnosed with having a high sugar level.

“The doctor asked the nurse to connect a urinary catheter. As she was connecting the device, my mother started to scream in pain,” Binjabi told Arab News in a statement in November last year.

The woman’s family insisted on transferring her to the intensive care unit — something that doctors refused saying there was no need.

“My mother died in front of me and 13 members of our family after being given an injection... The investigating committee ruled that the hospital was not guilty of any of the charges. What made my mother suddenly die just a few minutes after she was talking to us?” he said.

“I have requested a new investigation and Head of Health Affairs in Jeddah Dr. Sami Badawood himself has told me that this is my right,” he added.

Binjabi recently sent a letter to the minister of health claiming that he suspected the hospital and the Health Affairs had reached a secret deal over the case. “She pronounced the profession of faith after being administered the injection. I still don’t know what the red liquid they had injected into her was. I’m certain she died due to malpractice,” Binjabi wrote.

He also mentioned that one of the doctors who was at the hospital at the time presented a report citing negligence in the case. He was subsequently harassed and forced to resign from the job.