The 24-year-old Salman was admitted to the central government hospital in the southern province of Asir and officials said he could be flown later to a specialized hospital in the Western Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.
Just as the news spread about his transfer, an unknown benevolent man phoned the hospital and told them he would provide Salman and his mother with free housing in Jeddah and a monthly sum during his stay there. He also offered to finance the treatment of Salman’s blind sister.
“Upon his arrival in Asir hospital, Salman caused an emotional tremor among doctors and other medical staff members,” Ajel newspaper said.
“They told him they would do their best to look after him…when they asked him if he needs anything else, he whispered ‘yes…please help my mother so I can meet my Lord….she has struggled for me for 24 years…she has spent sleepless nights to care for me after I fell ill and is now gradually losing her sight…she is old and needs someone to serve her….please try to find a housemaid to serve her after I’m gone.”
Ajel said another benevolent person phoned the hospital shortly afterwards and offered to provide a housemaid to Salman’s mother immediately.
The paper quoted doctors as saying Salman’s condition is complicated and that they would conduct tests on him before deciding on a treatment course.
“The first thing we will do is to perform an urgent surgery on his left leg to remove a tumor,” said Dr Ibrahim bin Salman, Director of Assir Health Department. “We will then consult with various doctors on treatment.”
Salman had been bedridden at a small hospital in the southern town of Abha before health authorities decided to transfer him for treatment after his picture was published in many newspapers in the oil-rich Kingdom.
Doctors in Abha had told his ageing mother that Salman needs to be transferred to a specialized hospital to diagnose his disease and find a treatment. But his mother had been reluctant to agree on his transfer on the grounds she was “much worried about him.”
The boy is the only male in the family after the death of his father. His five sisters have been married and live far away from their village although one of them often comes to help his mother looking after him.
“He is suffering from a rare disease that has caused him general weakness and continuous loss of weight…sometimes his temperature goes up sharply while he gets infections from time to time,” Sabq daily said, quoting Saeed Al Naqeer, information director at the department of health.
Newspapers described Salman’s family as very poor following the death of his father a few years ago, adding that he and his mother live in a shabby small tin house in an outlying village.
“Salman and his family suffered from the scorching summer and pinching cold winter in that tin house, the only thing that they had inherited from his father,” Ajel said.
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