As many as 439 Saudis and 682 expatriates tested HIV positive in 2010, Alsharq Arabic daily reported yesterday, quoting latest Health Ministry figures. This brings the total number of people affected by AIDS in the Kingdom to 16,334 as of the end of 2010.
The paper also quoted Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Kanaan, head of the department for combating contagious diseases in the Eastern Province, as saying that annual expenditure for the treatment of a single AIDS patient could reach $50,000 because medication is costly.
The report also revealed 93 percent of HIV cases in the Kingdom spread through sexual relations. Taking drugs using syringes was another major reason for the spread of this deadly disease in the country.
Of the total number of AIDS cases reported in the Kingdom, 4,458 were among Saudis and 11,876 among expatriate workers. About 10 percent of AIDS cases have been found among Saudis in the Eastern Province, the paper pointed out.
Kanaan said the treatment of AIDS is expensive as patients have to purchase costly medicine throughout their lives. “Medical treatment cannot achieve a complete cure. It can only reduce the symptoms,” he said. Research work is in progress to find a complete cure for the disease.
Kanaan said there was little possibility of the HIV virus being transferred through blood transfusions as the blood is only taken from donors after stringent tests are conducted. AIDS will not spread by dining together or shaking hands with a patient. Advanced devices have been developed to detect AIDS cases quickly and correctly.
Dr. Khaled Mirghalani, spokesman of the Health Ministry, said his ministry has been providing necessary medical care and moral and material support to AIDS patients and their families. “We have established 20 centers across the Kingdom to provide medical advice and counseling to patients. In addition there are five mobile centers and free diagnosis centers in Riyadh, Madinah, Dammam and Jazan,” he added.
Sociologist Salma Al-Ali said lack of awareness was the main reason for the spread of AIDS in the Kingdom. “Many people do not know how this disease transfers from one person to another. Many people get a big shock when they are diagnosed with HIV. They usually carry out blood tests several times to make sure the report is correct. Some people try to commit suicide while others try to spread the disease to take revenge,” she pointed out.
Al-Ali said AIDS patients required mental and social support. “I know a woman who tried to commit suicide when she became pregnant carrying her first baby while infected. She got the virus through her husband.”
One 17-year-old girl admitted that she got the disease as a result of illicit sexual relations with a friend. “My parents have died and I am living with my brother’s family. They have kept me in a single room without allowing me out, except for going to hospital. They will not allow me to eat with them. I have thought several times about committing suicide.”
Another woman said she contracted the disease from her husband. “My husband died seven months after he tested HIV positive. I am still living. In my case the disease was not that serious and it seems in a dormant stage. Although I had tried for jobs, employers denied me jobs when they found out that I am an AIDS patient. I told my children that I was infected through my husband and not because of any illicit sexual relationship.”
The paper also quoted a young Saudi man as saying that he got the disease through his relations with women. “I never thought I would get this disease and I had not taken any precautions,” he said.
Ahmed Abdullah, deputy consul at the Saudi Embassy in New Delhi, said expatriate workers are allowed to enter the Kingdom after conducting necessary medical tests including for AIDS. These tests are conducted at authorized health centers approved by the Saudi Health Ministry. “The embassy will not deal with health centers that do not comply with the ministry’s conditions,” he told the paper.