A private hospital in Saudi Arabia is refusing to hand over the body of a baby to his father unless he pays a bill of SR780,000 (Dh773,000) for his wife’s delivery and the treatment of the baby for eight months before his death. 

The father had gone to the hospital in the Western town of Makkah to take the body of his son to bury him but the management refused to hand the body over before the man pays them the bill, according to Kabar Arabic language daily.

It said the father had reported the incident to the health department in the city but that no action has been taken, prompting the man to seek help from the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR).

“I am surprised at this big bill,” NCHR director in Makkah Suleiman Al Zaidi said. “We are in touch with the authorities to tackle this problem.”

The paper said the hospital is demanding that sum in return for a Cesarean operation the man’s wife had undergone at the hospital and the baby’s stay for eight months for post-delivery treatment. It did not make clear how the baby died.