MOH has revealed the details surrounding the cases of the two Egyptian doctors who have been sentenced to jail terms and lashes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to the MOH statement, the two doctors have misused their medical status and profaned the integrity of their profession by committing crimes punishable under Saudi laws.
The MOH Directorate of Health Affairs in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, in response to what have been circulated in the Egyptian media regarding the issue, and the provocative campaign launched against the verdict in Egypt, has said in an official statement issued recently that Dr. Shawqi Abd Rabbo Ibrahim, of Egyptian nationality and a physician at Al-Ansar Hospital in Jeddah, has been illegally trading in narcotic pharmaceuticals and offering injections of them to certain female patients. Dr. Shawqi was arrested by the Administrative Investigation Department on 28/09/1427H and the initial investigations led to a number of charges against him, including participation in bringing ampoules of dormicom and Nalorphine narcotics to the Kingdom, possessing and trafficking illegal pharmaceuticals in the Kingdom, and indulging in illicit relations with women who were under the effect of the injections given to them.
Similarly, Dr. Raouf Al-Arabi was arrested on 26/03/1428H and charged with bringing the same narcotics to the Kingdom and giving his sponsor's wife dormicom injections during the period from 1423 to 1428H.
According to the statement, the said pharmaceuticals are subject to international monitoring due to their addictive effects. They have destructive side effects on the central nervous system, the circulatory system, the digestive tract, and the respiratory system.
Upon referring the two doctors to the court of cessation in Jeddah, Dr. Sahwqi was sentenced on 14/11/1428 to 20 years in prison and lashes, whereas Dr. Raouf was sentenced to 15 years in prison and lashes. The sentences were in accordance with Articles 213 and 215 of the Penal Measures law, the statement said.
The two men are doctors and are aware of the serious outcomes of their acts, the statement said.