300 mental patients rejected by families

About 300 mentally ill patients are stranded in a Saudi psychiatry hospital after their families refused to receive them although the hospital says they have improved, the Saudi Almadina newspaper said on Thursday.

The hospital in the central town of Taif said it had contacted the relatives of nearly 300 patients to come and collect them but they refused.

“These patients no longer need any treatment here…what they need now is to be back with their families and get rehabilitation and treatment outside the hospital,” the paper said, quoting the hospital’s management.

It said the hospital had sent letters to some local government social and Islamic centres asking for their help in persuading those families to take those patients.