Article 16 of the Saudi Private Health Institutions Law

This is one of the most important articles protecting patients in the Law of Private Health Institutions.

The rule: a private health institution must provide emergency treatment to all dangerous emergency cases that come to it, without any financial demand before treatment is provided.

Elements of the rule:

• Who is bound: the private health institution; the text is general.
• The cases: all dangerous emergency cases that come to it. Both descriptions are required together: the case must be an emergency, and it must be dangerous.
• Type of treatment: emergency treatment.
• Financial protection: payment may not be required before treatment is provided.

Note that the text prevents a financial demand before treatment and does not state that treatment is free; the question of cost after treatment is provided is not addressed by this article. The details of application, such as identifying dangerous emergency cases and the scope of emergency treatment, are referred by the article to the Implementing Regulations.

In practice: if a person injured in an accident or a patient in a dangerous condition arrives at a private hospital or complex, the institution may not delay his emergency care until payment or the provision of a financial guarantee.

It is preceded by Article 15, which requires that laboratory, radiology, day-surgery and supporting services be provided by licensed specialists, and followed by Article 17, which creates inspection committees in the health affairs directorates to verify application of the Law's provisions. Someone who, or whose family member, faced an advance financial demand in a dangerous emergency may consult a lawyer who specializes in administrative or civil cases.