Antiqua Thurston
Saudi Health Ministry under fire in
case of girl and alleged HIV-tainted blood is an article about a
twelve year old girl in Saudi Arabia who received a blood transfusion. Many people inside and outside the medical
field know that blood transfusions are common but for Reham al-Hakami it wasn’t
an expected outcome. She received a
blood transfusion because she has sickle cell anemia but her family found out
that the blood the hospital gave her was HIV positive. They are not sure if Reham has actually
acquired HIV but there has been a big outrage throughout the community because
in Saudi Arabia HIV is still very much unthinkable. The health ministry of Saudi Arabia issued a
public statement apologizing to the young girl and her family and claimed that
this incidence was a “critical error”.
Seven health ministry officials were dismissed and fined. The community including a well-known
television presenter believed that the health minister Abdullah al- Rabiah
resigns from his position due to this serious situation. The television presenter expressed that he
believes it is time for the health minister to finally take responsibility for
situations that occur because he is in the leadership position. One local Saudi Arabis newspaper noted that
Rabiah visited the young girl in the hospital and gave her an ipad. In my opinion this was poor judgment on his
part because nothing even any electronics can make her situation better. He should’ve also known that by giving the
girl a “gift” it would cause a lot of speculation. There were a lot of comments on twitter where
people expressed how they felt about his actions. The family of Reham plans on suing the health
ministry and whoever was involved in this mistake. This is a global issue because of the fact
that HIV is still distasteful in this country.
This says a lot about the culture of Saudi Arabia and the cultural norms
that people within the society deal with.
Of course Reham’s parents are very upset and concerned about their
daughter’s health but it is possible that they are also worried about having a
stigma put on their family and their child.
Overall this is a terrible situation but it speaks to cultural norms and
behaviors in this society.
No comments:
Post a Comment