Saudi-Arabia- From Rags To Riches

Saudi-Arabia, the land of the filthy rich sheikhs who live in extravagant palaces.. The Kingdom where everyone enjoys the unbelievable riches that stem from its loins in the form of black gold...In Saudi-Arabia surely all citizens live at least a fairly comfortable and easy life, right? Not exactly.

This is the impression that many outsiders have about the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia. Through the eyes of most foreigners, it's a place full of wealth and luxury where all Saudis live in large villas and mansions, tended to by servants, maids and drivers. They drive in the latest sports car models and luxury SUV's, spending most of their free time shopping for the latest Gucci bag or Rolex watch. 

All of the above may be true for a minority of Saudis but there's another side to the coin, and it's not all that shiny. While the rich Saudis live lavishly, the poor languish in misery.

There is a rarely seen "dark side" to the Kingdom. Poverty, unemployment, hunger, beggars, shack villages..They all exist in Saudi-Arabia.

According to a report by The Washington Post, poverty in Saudi-Arabia is increasing. An estimated quarter of the population (2-4 million) live below the poverty line. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/01/saudi-arabia-riyadh-poverty-inequality That is a staggering amount. So where do all these people live?

The following is a photo collection from around the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia displaying the very humble and some even shocking circumstances that millions of Saudis live under. There are Saudis who live in houses built out of mud. Many of them do not enjoy the luxury of running water, plumbing or electricity. There are Saudis who build straw huts for their families to live in. They are goat herders and live much like some rural tribes in Africa. Others have no other option than to live in shack villages or even on the streets.

While the average Saudi probably falls somewhere between the wide array of these two extremes, lets not forget that there are families in the Saudi Kingdom who struggle everyday to find a decent meal to feed their starving children. These struggles are mostly unseen and unheard of to the average Saudis. These people are the forgotten ones, the hidden "dirty" secrets. Many of them are widowed or divorced women with no source of income, or ways to find (or get to) work. 

The trend in Saudi, like all over the world, is the rich are getting richer and the poor even poorer. This seems to be a paradox keeping in mind the importance of zakat (giving charity) in Islam. Many Saudis give zakat during Ramadan only, when it's believed that blessings from giving charity to the poor are multiplied. One reason that Saudis don't help the poorest citizens more is simply the lack of social charity organizations and channels through which to donate.

Saudi-Arabia does have some social charity organizations to support the poor, but although they go by the name of NGO's, they're still heavily controlled and supervised by the government. Strict rules apply for everything from the range of permissible activities to regulating donations to cash only. Currently the law prohibits foreign organizations from opening branches in Saudi-Arabia and foreign funding is also restricted. http://www.icnl.org/research/monitor/saudiarabia.html

There is a draft law which would hopefully relax the rules for charitable organizations and help would reach more people in more effective and productive ways. http://al-shorfa.com/en_GB/articles/meii/features/2012/10/05/feature-02

But does this solve the underlying issues, the cause of poverty?

In a country with so much wealth, how did this happen? 

From old to new. A traditional mud house next to a typical modern villa in the Najran valley.

This family lives in a simple house amongst piles of trash. The electricity cord has been dangerously set up.

Crumbling floors and structures pose dangers to the inhabitants.

A simple mud house on a farm.

A little girl peeks from the window of the mud house.

Surprising colors inside a mud house.

A shack village in Jizan.

A man selling a replica of the house he lives in.

Small farming community in southern region of Saudi-Arabia.

The village well.

Is this somewhere in Africa or Saudi-Arabia?

 A family lives in the ruins of an old mud village.

A typical villa in the capital Riyadh.

Luxurious palace in Riyadh.

The Royal Morgue

People often ask me how is it to work with the members of the Saudi royal family, what are the Princes and Princesses like? To put it short, they are just like any of us, but with some financial and social benefits :)
I wanted to share this interesting incident that once happened to me at work.
The Saudi royal family is huge, estimated to consist of around 15,000-20,000 members. The royals have their own specific services in some of the Saudi hospitals, read more about them here: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/10/saudi-arabia-and-vip-patients.html

Although they're not designated to accommodate the Saudi royal family, there are the occasional royal patients admitted on the regular wards. Many of them actually request to be assigned a bed on these wards to be under the specific medical service rather than the VIP service, thus getting care more specific to their condition, not status. That and some want to avoid the VIP ward like the plague because of rumors within the extensive royal family. A patient will have many visitors and the other royals will recognize which family it is and there will be talk.

So the incident happened when I was relatively new to the Kingdom and not fully familiar with all the VIP protocols and hassles. It was a regular night shift until the charge nurse received a phone call for an admission from the ICU. I heard her screaming on the phone informing them we didn't have empty beds, then shaking her head in disbelief and putting the phone down. The other Asian nurses gathered at the nursing station starting to speak loudly in Malay and Tagalog. Since I had noticed this was common occurrence I thought nothing of it.

After a while the admission was to arrive and I saw some nurses getting a room ready. They had transferred one patient onto another ward to empty the room. I was busy with my own patients and because I was not the nurse allocated to receive the new patient, continued to ignore the racket the Asian nurses were causing over the transfer. I was the only western nurse on duty and they usually didn't bother to tell me what was going on so I thought it was insignificant.

When the patient finally arrived from the ICU on her bed suddenly all the other nurses, including the charge and the allocated nurse suddenly disappeared like samboosas on Ramadan. I saw the western ICU nurse pushing the bed with some five male relatives. The patient was totally covered with a white sheet, which is normal in Saudi for the female patients. When they get transferred on their beds around the hospital, for privacy reasons they pull the white sheets on top of the whole patient resulting in a going to the morgue-look.

So as the only nurse around I received them with a friendly greeting and directed them to the room. Next we had to transfer the patient to the ward bed. We turned the patient and placed the sliding board underneath pulling her to the other bed. I thought it was odd they still hadn't wanted to remove the covers, but had gotten accustomed to seeing all sorts of things and again thought nothing of it. I took notice of the pristine white crisp thobes and strong perfumes the men were wearing and assumed they were of upper class status.

Next the male relatives started to fuss about the A/C. The most common immediate complaint the patients have when they come to the rooms is the air conditioning is too COLD. Saudis are afraid the cold air will worsen all illnesses. So I assured them I would adjust it to make it at hot as possible. The looks on their faces were as if I'd said something to the likes of " I will give the patient heroine".

The oldest one replied now clearly upset in English, "no we want cold! And bring ice! We need lots of ice." I informed them of the ice machine we had in the patient kitchen which they could use freely. The men looked at each other and I got a feeling they weren't liking my services so I excused myself and left the room.

I had the patients file now in my hands but did not have time to look at her details, rather I wanted to find the allocated nurse to hand over the file to but she was nowhere to be found. Next a myriad of black clad women started entering the ward. They were all dressed in designer abayas, wearing high heels and had covered their whole heads with the ends of their shaylas (scarves) thrown over the faces. The smell of expensive bohkoor and perfumes filled the ward. I felt a sense of curiosity now and checked the patient name. Al-Saud. And the two names before that made me gulp.

Now it started to make sense why all the Asian nurses had vanished and were still hiding in the patient rooms. I was still the sole nurse visible on the ward, standing like a statue now at the nursing station not knowing what to do. The female relatives asked for the room number and inquired what would happen. Some were weeping frantically and waving their hands in the air chanting something I assumed were prayers. Others were being walked by two Ethiopian maids on each side. One needed a wheelchair. I had seen all the drama Saudi women could create but nothing to this scale before.

Finally the frightened charge nurse emerged from her hiding place. I asked her what was going on and the whole insane truth was revealed. The patient was indeed a royal Princess. As a matter of fact, she was also deceased. They had just admitted a dead body. I had unknowingly been transferring a deceased royal Princess. I gasped at the thought of not only handling a dead body like one that was alive and thought back at everything I had told the relatives. Why didn't the nurses inform me? It seemed I was the last to know again.

Naturally in Saudi like all other hospitals around the world, the deceased patient will be washed and prepared and then transferred to the morgue. According to Islam the body should be buried as soon as possible and any decaying of the body should be avoided. The process in Saudi is very swift compared to what we are used to in the west, where the bodies might be in the morgues weeks at a time for example. Very seldom are autopsies carried out in Saudi-Arabia. Once the patient dies, the families take it as a decree from Allah and the reason of death to them becomes insignificant, unless they suspect a gross violation from medical staff which is extremely rare (that they would suspect or care).

So why was the dead body of a royal Princess occupying one the beds on our ward, not the morgue, or the VIP ward which has huge rooms complete with separate guest rooms? Well the reason is simply that is what the family wanted and because of their status, they could make it happen. They wanted for all the relatives and especially the King to be able to say goodbye to her before she was taken away, and the morgue would not be a place fit for a Princess as high as her. How could the royal relatives visit the morgue anyway?

So ice was brought in by the truckloads, the AC was adjusted, gigantic flower arrangements and golden chairs fit for Princesses to sit on were brought in from the VIP ward and when there was no space left inside the room, the hallway leading to the room was lined with them. Expensive bokhoor was burned in the room (it is forbidden normally) and the "royal morgue" was up and running.
Relatives kept coming in and out causing quite a lot of confusion in the other patients. There was hysterical crying in the hallways, maids coming in with trays of chocolates, pastries and other foods serving Arabic coffee from the intricate golden dallahs, drivers and guards were hanging around the hallways.

One of the younger princesses couldn't handle the stress and Her Highness was brought to me to measure her blood pressure. I took the moaning and groaning princess to sit in a quiet area and took the readings. They were slightly elevated but nothing to worry about, I said. The male relative strongly disagreed and demanded to see a cardiologist at once. He ordered me to give blood pressure medication on the spot.

I tried to explain to him how first of all since the woman was young and not on any medications I could not just go and get a blood pressure medication randomly, and second there are maybe hundreds of medications and doses to choose from and third, I could not even get it out of the machine without a doctors orders and her being listed as a patient on this ward, and fourth no doctor would even prescribe to her any medication based on these readings. I told him it's best we let her sit for a while and drink some water and try to relax, she will be just fine. He was clearly upset at what I had suggested and acted as if the woman was going to have a heart attack.

But as is common with demanding Saudi patients my explanations were not good enough and so I was forced to call the cardiologist who in turn had to come from the cardiac surgery unit down to the floor. He was extremely angry at me for calling him, even if for a royal princess. When he saw the readings which were by now even better, he simply laughed and left. The male relative (could've been her husband, brother, father or grandfather you never know here) was upset at the lack of service and took the faint princess elsewhere. I was relieved.

It was now nearing Fajr prayer time and the worst traffic to the newly established morgue had quieted down. The Asian staff were all mostly hiding in the staff room or patients rooms, trying to avoid any contact with the royal family in fear of saying or doing something to upset anyone and as a consequence, loosing their jobs.

There was still no word when the King would make his appearance to say his farewells. There were guards placed on all the entrances and all of the staff was anxiously awaiting his arrival. I was actually excited to have the opportunity to at least see him.

By the time night shift was over the ward had started to have a distinct deathly smell to it. Especially around the room turned morgue the stench was getting almost unbearable despite all the bokhoor and flowers. To my diappoinment I never got the chance to meet the King.
Eventually the King had arrived for a quick visit that afternoon and only after that was the body taken to the cemetery for burial.

This is one of the stories from the hospital I will never forget. And it could only happen in the Magic Kingdom!

The Princess And The Pimple

Believe it or not, based on a true story..

Once upon a time in the Magic Kingdom lived a young Princess called "Abeer". She lived in a huge palace with her parents and had a Pink Hummer driven by her private chauffeur.

One morning Princess Abeer woke up and upon looking in the mirror screamed: "Noooo! Yaaa Allah this can't be happening to me! Tomorrow is Fatima's wedding party!"

A gigantic red pimple stared back at her form the mirror. Worse yet it was in the middle of her forehead. "I look like a freak! Yaa maamaa!" she shouted in panic as she ran downstairs into the palace courtyard to find her mother.

"Mother what shall I do now, look at me I am so ugly! Tomorrow I must look my best because Prince Mishaal's mother will be at the wedding to check me out! He won't propose if I look like a three-eyed monster!"

"Yaa Rabb, poor girl. Don't worry dear Beero, we will go to the hospital and tell them to give you some medicine for the pimple."

So the Princesses left to the emergency room with their maids in tow. In the car Princess Abeer instructed the driver "Yalla ya Munir I am in great pain! Drive faster! Remember to use the royal entrance to the hospital so we don't have to queue!"

On arrival at the ER the poor Princess was so weak she needed a wheelchair. The driver fetched the chair for her and they rushed her into the VIP section of the ER. A nurse and a royal officer immediately attended to the Princess and she was whisked past the overcrowded side of the ER full of  the ordinary patients.

The Princesses had both thrown the black scarves over their heads so that their true identity (and the protruding pimple) would remain hidden. The nurse apologized and told the them to wait because she was busy with a very ill baby in the other room. The Princess got extremely upset.

"Sister don't you know who I am?! I am Princess Abeer bint so and so bin so and so bin so and so bin AbdulAziz Al Saud. You must attend to me first!"
"But your Highness, the baby might die!"
"I don't care! This is an emergency situation! she exclaimed, sister get me the doctor NOW!"

The nurse ran off to fetch the doctor, she knew not to mess with the royal family members after some of her colleagues had been "dismissed" and sent on the next flight home after criticizing the VIP status of some patients. A Saudi male doctor specializing in royal medicine arrived to examine the royal patient and asked her to remove the veil. The Princess whimpered in pain and exhaustion as she lay on the bed and finally removed her scarf.

Her mother with a stern voice advised the doctor: "Doctor we have imboortant event tomorrow and Abeer needs to be a beerfect condition. Blease doctor we need a medicine." "And I'm in pain!" the Princess added.

The doctor looked at the pimple for a moment and then gave his orders to the nurse: "Take her vitals, do blood tests, insert IV line and start her on intravenous Ceftriaxone. Give Pethidine 100 mg I.V. Apply Bacitracin ointment on the pimple Q.I.D.
"Don't worry your Highness we have it under control. The antibiotics will take care of the infection in no time and you will receive a pain killer now."
"Thank you doctor! Now sister, call the kitchen we want to order some food!"

The nurse went off to follow the doctors orders shaking her head in disbelief of such vanity and the unnecessary medical interventions. The VIP kitchen staff arrived at bedside to take their order. "Freshly squeezed orange juice, chicken burgers, fries..oh and cupcakes and kahwa please! Yalla besurah!" the young princess instructed.

The nurse returned to insert the I.V. line and the Princess shuddered. "Please sister I want the cream first!"
"But it's only for children your Highness and it won't hurt really, I will be very quick." "No, mama I want the cream!" "Sister, blease ze cream now." the mother Princess confirmed nodding her head.

The nurse applied the numbing cream to the princesses hand. "Sister blease, put ebra here so tomorrow mafi mushkila at wedding" the mother demanded. "But your Highness, placing the cannula high on her arm on the inner side will cause her great pain and it is not per policy either." "What is zis bolicy sister? Yalla but ebra now sister!" the mother Princess looked annoyed so the nurse forgot about reasoning and proceeded.

Despite the cream she screamed in pain from the injection. "Shweia shweia sister, shweia shweia!" The mother disapprovingly clucked her tongue. The nurse then proceeded to apply the antibiotic cream on the pimple. "Shweia shweia sister!" Cluck cluck cluck.

Finally the antibiotics were hooked and the Princess dozed off from her narcotic painkiller. She and mother princess spend the night in the ER on I.V fluids watching movies from the flat screen TV and calling the nurse to run different errands for her throughout the night. The maids massaged their feet.

In the morning the doctor came to check the patient. "Your highness the infection is improving. We can discharge you but continue your antibiotics at home for a week and keep applying the cream."

The pimple had indeed disappeared over night. "Thank you doctor! Sister, we want leave now so remove ze ebra and give us a medicine, besurah besurah!"
Upon leaving the hospital the mother Princess made a complaint of the nurses rude behavior to the Patient Relations Officer.

The Princesses returned to the castle and all was well in the Magic Kingdom.

And the Princess lived happily ever after, without the pimple.

Read more about how VIP patients get treated in Saudi hospitals:

http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/10/saudi-arabia-and-vip-patients.html

Vocabulary
Ebra= Needle
Besurah=hurry
Mafi mushkila=no problem
Sister=what all Saudi patients call nurses
Shweia=little, carefully
Pethidine=Extremely addictive narcotic painkiller
bint/bin=daughter/son of
Rabb=Lord

King Abdullah Starts a New Era for Saudi Women

I was extremely happy to arrive back to Saudi from our Turkey trip. Why? Because it is a historical moment for Saudi women. King Abdullah has announced in his speech that women will be allowed to vote and participate in the Shoura council.


I was so happy that upon hearing this I just wanted to go give him a big bear hug!

Ok maybe that wouldn't be the greatest idea. But you get the idea of how excited I am. This is big news. Saudi women are soon going to participate in decision making in Saudi Arabia. This also gives hope for the future for more decrees like this from the King. (ahem women driving..) Not only the Saudi women but the whole country will benefit from this change.

I guess it's no secret I'm a big fan of the King. He is doing a great job considering the circumstances he has to work under. He has to deal with the heavy pressure from the religious clerics breathing on his back, the mixed public opinions he hears all around, his brothers and other family members on the other side whispering their opinions and demands, his advisors with their own agendas and also his conscious to be the just ruler that is ultimately responsible only to Allah.

It looks like most of the time his ultimate choice has been listening to the heart. That is what makes him so loved by the Saudi people.

The King, estimated to be a staggering 92 years old said in his speech:
 "Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with Shariah, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulema and others to involve women in the Shoura Council as members, starting from the next term"

Well it sure took a long time for them to realize they'd been marginalizing women but better late than never I guess.
Personally I think this is great news and indicates that the country is ready to move forward to this millennium. Some others have been more skeptical. People are saying this is not really going to mean anything concrete will happen for improvement of womens rights. Women are not actually going to have any power in the Shoura, but will only be like puppets and all this was done solely for statistics and looks. The Shoura council and municipal election themselves are said to have little or no actual influence on how the country is ruled.

Western media has perhaps deliberately left unsaid that before 2005 Saudis, regardless of gender were in fact not allowed to vote at all. Or in other words, there was nothing to vote for. When they held the municipal elections for the first time it was most likely due to the resource problems (gender segregation) that women weren't included. For the next round in 2015 women will be able to vote as well as run as candidates. That will be very interesting to see.

The King also said in his speech:
"Muslim women in our Islamic history have demonstrated positions that expressed correct opinions and advice" 


King Abdullah then gave examples from the times of Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century. During the era of the Prophet some women acted as lawyers and people would go to them with complex legal issues, there were female scholars and in general women participated in the society as equals.


It's ironic that the rights given to women by the Prophet over a millenia ago were later taken away by so called religious men and then it took this long for Saudi-Arabia, the birthplace and "model-country" of Islam, to restore some of those rights from times some people refer to as "the Dark Ages". Yet it seems like modern day Arabia is living in a new era of the Dark Age because of how they marginalize women in their societies.


That leads me to think how come major rulings like this can be made, but the problem of women driving still exists? How will the women chosen for Shoura show up for the meetings? Isn't it humiliating if she cannot have the most SIMPLE right of driving, but on the other hand she is able to participate in such an important council?

Is women driving really more momentous than women voting?

What do you think readers? Are the Kings rulings just a way of getting the focus OFF women driving or a prerequisite TO women driving?


As the eternal optimist, I say it's the latter.

More about King Abdullah's mission to improve women's status in the Kingdom: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/08/king-abdullah-emissary-of-saudi-women.html

Read more on the news:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/world/middleeast/women-to-vote-in-saudi-arabia-king-says.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3
 http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09/25/saudi-king-lets-women-vote-in-local-elections-for-first-time/?test=latestnews#ixzz1Z1qLVXeH
From other blogs:Sabrias bloghttp://saudiwriter.blogspot.com/2011/09/saudi-women-demonstrate-they-are.html
Crossorads Arabia:
http://xrdarabia.org/2011/09/25/saudi-women-gain-political-rights/

The King's return-a celebration or a revolution?

King Abdullah has returned to Riyadh and he received a very warm welcome from Saudis. The streets of Riyadh are lined with flags and large pictures and posters of the King are plastered on every building with slogans like "Thank God for the King's health", "The nation is well as long as you are well", "Long live the King" and so on. The King was greeted by crowds of people cheering next to the highways he drove by. Radio stations played songs specially composed for the occasion, people called in praising the King and children read poems they had written about him. 

King Abdullah is truly beloved as a ruler and he seems to have the firm support of the majority of Saudis. He has done a lot for the country and earned the respect of his countrymen. I wrote a post on some of the reforms he has issued to improve women's rights.

With all the protesting and revolution spirit ongoing in the region, one might expect Saudis would start protesting now that the ruler is back in the country. However I highly doubt the Saudi people would go against their leader, although there are many issues people do complain about.

To show his gratitude toward the Saudi people for the warm welcome the King has announced a long list of royal decrees to improve things like poverty, housing problems, and unemployment. The whole giveaway will cost 36 billion dollars! It also included giving more money to charities, a pay raise for all government employees and support for literary and sports clubs. 

Last night the streets filled with Saudi youth celebrating King Abdullah like a hero, they went around hanging out of the cars waving Saudi flags and posters of the King. I saw some men that had painted their whole car green for the occasion! Both Faisaliah and Kingdom towers have turned on their green lighting, usually only seen on National Day. There is a big celebration scheduled for Saturday which the King has declared a day off for everyone. The overall feeling of joy and the good mood which people were in was evident everywhere.

Despite all this public show of affection, support and love for the King there are rumors of planned protests. There have already been small protests around the country but apparently they did not receive much media coverage. Facebook groups called Saudi Revolution have been created and one currently has about 7700 members.

Some of the groups are planning protests in Riyadh on the 11th March, some seem to have the date set at 20th March.

I'm highly susceptible that anything the same caliber of Egypt or Libya will come out of this. Although I think it's great to see Saudis voicing out their wishes for freedom, they are just outnumbered by the supporters of the current system. Perhaps in time when the King passes away and if his follower is not as generous or open-minded as he is, there would be stronger and more wide support for change. Only time will tell I guess, but currently the King enjoys an exact opposite situation as his colleague in Libya does.



Has King Abdullah returned to Riyadh?

King Abdullah was recently discharged from a New York hospital after full recovery from his back surgery. He was planning to stay a while at the Waldorf Astoria hotel but no news of his return to Saudi-Arabia has been released.

Something weird happened today and I started suspecting wether the King has in fact already returned quietly to Riyadh or planning to come any day now.
I was having my lunch at the hospital park when suddenly low flying jet planes appear in the sky just above the city center. I suspect it was the Saudi Hawks, part of the Royal Saudi Air Force. They were flying in formations and started drawing figures with the fumes in the sky, huge loops and what looked like some kind flower formations! I had to rub my eyes when two of the planes came together to make a heart shape and the third proceeded to fly through it as if an arrow had punctured it. It really made me smile imagining these Saudi air force guys showing their "soft side" depicting hearts over Riyadh! So was this all in the King's honor or just a spontaneous air show? My husband commented that it was just the air force rehearsal..hmm I wonder is this part of the Air force curriculum?

Another sign of the King Abdullah's return could be the preparations being taken in the hospital. I wrote a post on treatment of VIP patients before, but the King gets some extra special treatment in the hospital. He not only has his own entrance, helicopter landing area and whole ward, but there is also an ICU designated for the ruler only. All this is being prepared anticipating his possible need for the facilities in the near future.

I wish the King many healthy years to come, inshallah he will be able to continue his reforms and make Saudi a better place to live for everyone! Read more on his reforms on women's issues in my previous post.

I snapped some pics from the "airshow" with my mobile, sorry for the bad quality!This is the heart

Saudi-Arabia and VIP patients

Saudi-Arabia still has the outdated practice of VIP status, even in hospitals. To me as a Scandinavian this term of a "Very Important Person" just seems so antiquated and even ridiculous.

VIP as a concept does not exist in our society (exception some nightclubs VIP sections). Finland has always been a reformer and a pioneer in medical ethics. Back in 1964 the Declaration of Helsinki was developed and it is regarded as the cornerstone document of human research ethics.
If someone would declare themselves a VIP in Finnish society (which is highly unlikely) they wouldn't be taken seriously and it would be seen as nothing but a joke.

All patients receive the same treatment in our free or low cost government provided hospitals. Even Bill Clinton recently commented on the Finnish healthcare and schooling systems, saying "America should be more like Finland". Well I would have to agree!

For americans VIP patients are a more familiar concept. I googled it and found many articles from the States about VIP patients and how to treat them. I guess that might be where Saudis copied the system from, but here its implementation is far worse.The VIP in Saudi can be royal family member, a high ranking government or military official, a diplomat or just a person from a very rich family with serious wasta.

VIP and patient just don't go together. It's against all medical ethics. But in Saudi it seems to be like a normal thing accepted by everyone. To me it's like living in the medieval times.
Actually it wasn't always like this, VIP syndrome is definitely a result of the oil boom, sudden wealth and feeling of supremacy it brings to some Saudis. In fact during the medieval times Muslim hospitals were institutions which treated patients of all ethnic backgrounds and financial statuses equally. Including patients who were male and female, civilian and military, child and adult, rich and poor, and Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Muslim physicians were expected to have obligations towards their patients, regardless of their wealth or backgrounds. The ethical standards of Muslim physicians was first laid down in the 9th century by Ishaq bin Ali Rahawi, who wrote the Adab al-Tabib (Conduct of a Physician), the first treatise dedicated to medical ethics.Read more here.
So Muslims were way ahead of the west when it came to medicine back in the day and actually one of the features in medieval Muslim hospitals that distinguished them from their contemporaries was their higher standards of medical ethics.

As a Finnish nurse, dealing with these kind of VIP patients and their often silly requests needed some getting used to. I used to ask: Am I supposed to ramp up my quality of care as if I have multiple standards depending upon the prominence of the patient? Why is my job at risk if I choose to prioritize care according to my judgment leaving the VIP waiting for 10 minutes? How can I be genuinely compassionate to a person that treats me with disrespect and like a maid, not a professional?

I still do not to this day compromise the care of my other patients just because the VIP is requesting for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice or his or her shot of whichever drug they are addicted to. However I know many nurses who have lost their job because they didn't succumb to the whims of their VIPs. Some have been sent home the next day if the upset VIP was a high ranking royal. On the other hand nurses of Asian nationalities seem to take the VIP "seriously" and seem to be intimidated and will never question even their most absurd requests.

From the minute the VIP steps into the hospital, their whole course of stay will vary dramatically from the "ordinary patient".
They have their own entrance, clinic, ward, doctors and in the ER, they have a VIP fast track. Which means they will be treated first in all cases, even if there is a dying baby in the next room, the princess with the pimple  will be first priority. And yes they have come to ER for treatment of a pimple!

In case the patient is admitted, regardless of diagnosis he or she will most likely go to the designated VIP ward. Needless to say the rooms are huge and glamorous and anything the patient wants extra will be catered to. The problem I see with this is that in fact the patients are not necessarily receiving the best possible medical care. When patients from all medical fields are combined in one ward including deliveries and babies, the amount of knowledge and experience the staff should possess in order to equal the quality of care on the regular wards is enormous, even impossible to achieve. Some VIPs have realized this and request to be assigned onto the specific wards and "suffer" the consequences of smaller rooms.

Another issue that diminishes quality of care and slows down the treatment process is that physicians are reluctant to make diagnosis without consulting a multitude of specialties first. They are so terrified of making a mistake and loosing their jobs, they will be hesitant to start treatments further worsening the prognosis of the patient in some cases.

They will also prescribe drugs and treatments of no benefit or even harmful to the patient, just because the patient requests them. This is the case with drug addictions, there is no such thing as weaning the VIP off the drug and upsetting the patient.

What the patient does acquire with VIP status in addition to the larger room is 5 star hotel like service. This is assumed to be delivered by all personnel, from housekeeping, maintenance, food services and of course, nurses. The patient can order any type of food from the VIP kitchen 24/7, the can get extra golden armchairs and sofas brought in for visitors, if they need service of hairdresser or masseuse the nurse wll arrange them, their rooms are filled with flower assemblies reaching to the ceilings and in addition to all this have private nurses and maids serving them.
If the patient is not satisfied with the service provided they have their own representative in the hospital who will arrange any arising problems.

I've had many wonderful and genuine VIP patients that don't seem to be bothered of their status too much and are not overly demanding. But there are patients with a bad case of VIP syndrome, which can be a hassle for the staff to deal with.
My conclusion is VIP status does not in fact benefit the patient from the medical point of view but it serves more of an egoistic purpose.

King Abdullah- the Emissary of Saudi women

King Abdullah was recently chosen as one of the world's top 10 most respected leaders by Newsweek. This might come as a surprise to some since his actions do not usually make big headlines internationally. Nevertheless in the past few years he has accomplished a lot for women in Saudi-Arabia and often works behind the scenes to push reform.

In the headlines this week, the King has just appointed the new minister of labor for Saudi-Arabia. The new minister, Adil Fakieh worked previously as the mayor of Jeddah.

Another topic recently in the headlines is the Saudi female cashiers now working at a large grocery chain called Panda. This is great advancement in Saudi terms. Prior to this female cashiers worked exclusively in women only environments hidden from public view.
There are now a few brave women starting work at a Panda in Jeddah. This of course created an uproar of protests from conservative Saudis and some scholars.

Interestingly the Panda chain is owned by Savola group and the new minister Adil Fakieh happens to be the Chairman.
http://www.savola.com/savolae/A_Word_from_the_Chairman.php

So is this all just coincidence? Most likely King Abdullah is supportive of employing Saudi women and advancing their position in society, hence the appointment of Fakieh. Surely the newly appointed minister will be in favor of employing more women in the Panda grocery stores and later other chains will hopefully follow their example. Panda and Savola group will be protected from the attacks of extremist clerics and sheikhs by Fakieh and he has back-up from the King himself.

The King is known to be in favor of reform, especially when it comes to women's issues in the country. Earlier this year a photo was released with Abdullah and the Crown Prince posing together with 40 women. This was another quiet statement from Abdullah in relation to relaxing the Kingdoms strict rule on gender mixing.

Last September, the King inaugurated the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), a graduate-level mixed-gender school devoted to advanced scientific research. Shortly after the University was opened a high ranking cleric criticized KAUST deeming the gender mixing a great sin. This led to the cleric getting sacked by the King.

King Abdullah also appointed the first female minister, Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez as deputy minister of education early last year.
Perhaps he has realized that the saying "a nation is as strong or weak as its women" really does have truth to it.

The Saudi King is empowering the women of Saudi-Arabia slowly, but surely. He is enabling them to come out of the shadows to participate in taking the Kingdom to more modern times. Change does not happen swiftly in the Kingdom. Things take time to advance even a little bit. Although all these issues might seem trivial and insignificant, in the context of Saudi society they are enormous.

What is one small step for the rest of the world, is one giant leap for the Saudis.

Will King Abdullah be the monarch to lift the ban on women driving??