A young man, infected with sickle cell anemia, dies, after those accompanying him beg the emergency doctor to admit him. The latter refused to do so and stressed that what the patient was suffering from – diarrhea and vomiting – was nothing serious and did not warrant being admitted to the Salmaniya Medical Centre and asked him to return home. But the person accompanying the patient had a better picture than the doctor and took the young man to a private clinic, which in turn, called the ambulance to return him to the resuscitation room at the Salmaniya's Emergency Unit. Once at the hospital, the emergency doctor once again stressed that the patient did not need to be admitted to the resuscitation room and discharged him from there only to return to it after losing consciousness and his life.

This is not an individual case but a recurring incident in a country where sickle cell anemia patients are plenty and where doctors are supposed to be experts in the conditions of this diseases and its side effects. Dealing with diseases and patients is not restricted to the medical aspects only but involves dealing with patients and their families in a humane manner. A few months ago, a doctor at the emergency, told the wife of a sickle cell anemia patient, who was urging him to admit her husband into the hospital: “This isn't your father's hotel!!!” She then had to take him to a private hospital, which again transfered him to Salmaniya because of his deteriorating condition. He passed away at the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

When will we ever do justice to those patients? How long will we cover our ears so that we don't get disturbed by their cries? How long will they continue to beg for what is their right? How long will be prescribe to them Panadol and Ibuprofen to ease pains which are not even ended by morphine?