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29 March 2024

Saudi Arabia's 'skeleton man' is dead

(SUPPLIED)

Published

A 24-year-old Saudi man who had hit headlines after he was reduced to almost a skeleton by a mystery illness has died just before he was to be moved to a specialized hospital for treatment, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Salman Al Shahri was transferred from home to a local hospital in south Saudi Arabia last month and was to be moved to the capital Riyadh for treatment but his condition deteriorated and he died a day before his transfer this week.

Salman had remained bed ridden for most of his life at home as his mother had refused his transfer to hospital on the grounds she was worried about him.She finally accepted a plea by health officials to take him to hospital in the southern province of Asir where he had a surgery to remove a tumor in the leg. He was to be flown to a specialized hospital in Riyadh this week.

“Salman died at Asir central hospital just before he was to be taken to Riyadh…..doctors said they could not save his life,” Sharq daily said.It quoted his sister Umm Rayan as saying he had suffered from severe pains and was screaming incessantly because of the pain just before he died.“Just before his death, I asked him if he wants any thing…all that he said was that he was sorry to have bothered our mother all these years,” she said.“While at hospital, my mother was allowed to sleep at his ward….she wanted to sleep in the floor but he refused and said he would not sleep unless she sleeps with him in the bed…he was very fond of our mother.”

Salman was the sole supporter of his ageing mother before he fell prey to the unknown disease that has left him bed ridden since he was a little boy.

Newspapers said authorities had decided to act after they published Salman’s picture showing him looking like a ghost or a skeleton with his skin tarnished by spots and bruises.

The picture showed his eyes half closed and staring nowhere as if to avoid the flashing cameras of the photo journalists.The man is the only male in the family after the death of his father. His five sisters have been married and live far away from their village although one of them had often come to help his mother looking after him.

“He was suffering from a rare disease that has caused him general weakness and continuous loss of weight…sometimes his temperature went up sharply while he got infections from time to time,” Saeed Al Naqeer, information director at the department of health told local newspapers.When he was taken to Asir hospital in late May, Salman said all he wanted that his mother gets a housemaid to help her so he can meet his God.“Upon his arrival in Asir hospital, Salman caused an emotional tremor among doctors and other medical staff members,” Ajel newspaper said.

“They told him they would do their best to look after him…when they asked him if he needs anything else, he whispered ‘yes…please help my mother so I can meet my Lord….she has struggled for me for 24 years…she has spent sleepless nights to care for me after I fell ill and is now gradually losing her sight…she is old and needs someone to serve her….please try to find a housemaid to serve her after I’m gone.”