Recompression Chamber -Jeddah KSA

[Alwassia]

During the last few month the only Recompression Chamber open to the public at GNP Hospital Jeddah Saudi Arabia has been out of service. We were told that they are waiting for spare parts & a technician to get it fixed.

At this time I am not sure if any of the other Jeddah hospitals have general O2 treatment chambers for burn victims or similar. We do not know as well if such hospitals have staff trained in diving recompression.

The only confirmed place with such a O2 chamber is the Faisal Hospital in Riyadh. As soon we can confirm further facilities, i will update the information.

Please ensure that you have DAN insurance or similar so you are covered in case of any problems leading to evacuations.

Regards

Khaled Alwassia

[Odin]

The King Khalid NG (Jeddah) didn't have a chamber when I worked there...

[Alwassia]

They still do not have any chamber, but a brand new cancer unit.........

[Adrian Kelland]

They still do not have any chamber, but a brand new cancer unit.........
Probably more usefull for the majority of customers though.

[Alwassia]

Diver action has triggered this article (link below) in the local new, we are hoping for some official action, well hoping!

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=76615&d=22&m=1&y=2006

[Andy Wade]

Diver action has triggered this article (link below) in the local new, we are hoping for some official action, well hoping!

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=76615&d=22&m=1&y=2006

Interesting comment in the article:

"Mason said that dive tourism from overseas was growing “by leaps and bounds” and had doubled each year for the last three years. “Overseas divers only dive with computers and backup,” he said. This minimizes the risk of contracting a bend. “If the tourists do not carry a dive computer and backup, they do not dive on our boats. It is the domestic market where the danger exists. Many of these people do not dive using computers; they dive using analogue equipment and that is where mistakes are made.”

It's a bit of a sweeping statement.
I think that over dependence on a computer could lead to mistakes being made, especially when not planning the dive and diving the plan. Personally I dived for years before computers were available, and had no incidents at all using 'analogue' equipment. Mistakes are made for all sorts of reasons, blaming the use of analogue equipment is missing the point.

[Alwassia]

Andy,
in principle i agree with you, maybe Mason did not express himself very well. Not forgetting the censorship applied to Newspapers here.
Have you had the pleasure to visits and dive Saudi Arabia? If not i can further understand you comments, really as sad it is I have to admit that most of my country fellows are a time bomb when it comes to diving.
Just a few most ago some local instructors (Non-BSAC) were on a live aboard, well the group had a competition going on. Depth is what was winning, over the week they made repeated dives to 200+ feet. OK with computers and all the Gizmos but still on air and not deco trained.

Guess what happened; they got bend 400Km from the next hospital and then chamber was out of order.

So i guess what Eric Mason wanted to say, is that because of the local cowboys the authorities better get a chamber ruining or someone will die.

By the way it was on of Masons boats on which it happened - ups.
So if he is critical if the local divers i think i can understand it, even if his crew should have controlled the diving better.

Khaled