Abdullah visits injured Palestinians

RIYADH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah yesterday visited two seriously wounded Palestinians who have been admitted to King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) in Riyadh. Nine Palestinians arrived in the Kingdom by plane on Thursday night. Two of them were admitted to KFSH, while the others were sent to the National Guard Hospital, the King Khalid University Hospital, the King Fahd Medical City, the Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital and the Security Forces Hospital. The patients, who arrived in Medevac air ambulances, were ferried from Areesh Aiport to Riyadh Airbase on the instructions of King Abdullah. Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghlani, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said the nine included an eight-year-old boy and two seriously injured patients who were unconscious. “Each patient was accompanied by a close relative,” he added. The two Palestinians the king met were Emad Al-Khalidi, 22, who suffered multiple injuries including a broken leg in an Israeli missile attack, and Mahmoud Abu Sultan, 20, who suffered severe head injuries in an airstrike on his home. On his arrival at the hospital, King Abdullah was received by a number of officials including Dr. Fahd Al-Abduljabbar, the king’s adviser and chairman of the KFSH’s board of directors, and Dr. Qassem Al-Qasabi, the hospital’s executive general supervisor. The king was given briefings about the patients’ health conditions. He requested the hospital to exert utmost care in treating the Palestinians and asked the authorities to provide their accompanying relatives with proper lodging during their stay in the Kingdom. Fahad Al-Dosary, spokesman for the KFSH, said the two patients were admitted to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, as their condition was very bad. He said that following treatment, Al-Khalidi had shown remarkable improvement and would soon be transferred to the general ward. Abu Sultan, who underwent emergency orthopedic surgery yesterday after the king’s visit, had not regained consciousness until late in the evening.