CAIRO: Reports circulating on Wednesday said an Egyptian doctor was shot dead by a Saudi citizen at al-Tathlith hospital in the southern part of the Kingdom. However, these reports conflict with news garnered by Bikya over the doctor's situation. Mohamed Hany, a pulmonary specialist working at al-Tathlith hospital in the southern region of Saudi Arabia, was shot while performing his duties inside the hospital. Bikya originally reported that he had been killed by the assailant, yet it appears that he is currently struggling for his life in the hospital, according to recent reports from Saudi Arabia and Egyptian local press. The hospital announced late Wednesday that the condition of the Egyptian doctor is stable after the initial reports of his death and that the victim was transferred to a hospital in the capital Riyadh. Hany was shot a number of times in different parts of the body, a medical worker at the hospital said. The Emir of Asir province promised to provide full medical care to the doctor, adding that the perpetrator “will be brought to justice” condemning the criminal act. A spokesman for the province's police, Colonel Abdullah al-Qurani, said that a preliminary investigation has revealed the man admitted shooting the doctor and has accused Hany of negligence over the treatment he gave the shooter and his brother. Another Egyptian doctor at the hospital, Hussein Saad Zahran, told Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm that the shooter had thought he contracted Swine flu and had cme into the hospital for an examination with his brother. Hany diagnosed the condition as acute bronchitis and acute influenza after numerous examinations, Zahran said. The family then demanded the brother be transferred to a pulmonary hospital some 90 miles away even though Hany had warned them against this. The family chose to move the sick brother to the hospital where the brother succumbed to his illness and passed away. According to police, the assailant who shot Hany this week accuses the doctor of being responsible for his brother's death. For its part, the Doctors Union in Cairo had called on both the foreign minister and minister of manpower to move quickly in order to save the life of the doctor and investigate the incident, stressing that there is another doctor, Mohammed Samir, was assaulted by four Saudi brothers while he treated their mother at the Mubarak Hospital in Kuwait. The union reported that the doctor is still being treated at the hospital as a result of the assault and the union also demanded “following up on his condition, investigations and actions taken to enforce justice to protect the rights of Egyptians abroad.†In recent years, Egypt has been at odds with Gulf Arab nations, who import Egyptian laborers to the country. They often work at much lower rates than locals and reports of poor treatment and conditions at the hands of their overlords has led to a number of protests in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo. Egypt’s foreign ministry has issued a number of statements demanding better treatment by Gulf states, but the conditions continue much the same. **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam
