DOHA: The Qatari patient, being treated in London for a new SARS-like virus, was shifted from Doha to the UK in a private flight chartered by his family, a local Arabic daily has reported, quoting a close relative.
He added that the family was forced to charter the flight, as the Hamad General Hospital, where he was being treated, refused to transfer him at its own expense.
The patient who contracted the illness in Saudi Arabia where he went for Umrah was admitted at the Hamad General Hospital before being shifted to the UK. A senior HMC official recently said that the virus could not be detected in Qatar because the HMC laboratory does not have the required technology.
“We got the official approval from the hospital management to transfer my brother after signing an undertaking for bearing the transport charges and we hired a Swiss charter flight to shift him”, the brother of the patient was quoted as saying by the daily, speaking over telephone from London. The relative was also critical of the SCH for “knowing nothing” about the health condition of the patient before if was officially announced by the British health authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO).
“After he came back from Umrah he developed breathing problems, cough and influenza, so he was transferred to the Hamad General Hospital. The doctors there gave some antibiotic medicines after checking the blood pressure, sugar and heartbeats and said he was okay. The Only problem, according to them was that his cholesterol level had increased,” said the relative. “The condition of my brother was not improving so we have transferred him to a private hospital that gave him a strong antibiotic injection. As a result, his condition deteriorated further and he developed severe breathing problems. So we transferred him once again to the Hamad Hospital.”
“He stayed there only for one night and then we called a chartered flight to shift him to the UK where he is getting treatment on the expense of Qatar,” he added. Neither the HMC nor the SCH has so far responded to the allegations levelled by the daily. No update about the health condition of the patient was available until late evening yesterday. The WHO, meanwhile, said that the new virus appears not to spread easily from person to person.
“From the information available thus far, it appears that the novel coronavirus cannot be easily transmitted from person to person,” it said in a statement. The UN agency has not recommended any travel restrictions in connection with the new virus, but said it was working closely with Saudi authorities on health measures for Muslims making the Haj pilgrimage to Makkah. Health experts said rapid progress has already been made in figuring out the nature and genetic makeup of the new coronavirus, and in coming up with tests.
“We are developing with our partners sensitive and specific diagnostic assays and these should be available in the next few days,” Thomas told a briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva. “If any national authority is concerned about a patient who is under investigation, if they want to contact us, we can put them in touch with these laboratories and provide initial tests for any cases which are suspicious,” he added. The Peninsula
