Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Saudi Ministry of Health Issues a Third Warning against Phoney Physician. | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat-The American Embassy in Riyadh has revealed that physician, Mohamed Al Hashemi”s claim that he had obtained a Masters degree and a PhD is in fact, untrue. Hashemi, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates told Asharq Al Awsat that he had acquired both qualifications from the University of Denver in the United States. The Saudi Ministry of Health had previously accused him of exploiting patients and issued a warning not to deal with him.

General Affairs Consular in the American Embassy, Carol Kaline stated that she had received a response from the University”s registration and admissions office confirming that there was no academic record under the name Mohamed Al Hashemi. Furthermore, the University does not even offer any alternative medicine degrees and in fact, it has not had a medical department since 1909.

The Saudi Ministry of Health further reiterated its public warning for the third time yesterday saying, ”with regards to the case of Mohamed Al Hashemi who the Ministry had previously warned against visiting his treatment center, we further emphasize to the public to keep away. After he made his claims to the local media, the Ministry made some enquiries at the American Embassy in Riyadh to verify his alleged degree in Medicine from the University of Denver and the claim that he is certified by this university to practice medicine.”

The Ministry”s announcement continued, ” based on the investigation, the Ministry confirms that the imposter Mohamed Al Hashemi does not hold any academic certificate to prove that that he is a Doctor from either an American or Arab university. Moreover, Al Hashemi does not hold any permit to practice medicine in Saudi. He prepares and sells medicines that have proven to be harmful to health and that have been made unsupervised, not in accordance with the standard of pharmaceutical industries and have not been licensed by the Ministry as Al Hashemi had never applied for such a license.” The Ministry further added, ”Herbal medicines and health nutrients that have been permitted by the Ministry for marketing, all carry a registration number and a license on the packaging itself so that it can be sold exclusively at pharmacies. The Ministry urges all citizens to be vigilant and not to deal with the imposter. The Ministry will also respond quickly and firmly with anybody who attempts to jeopardize the health of the citizens and residents.”

Al Hashemi had previously accused the Saudi Ministry of Health of launching offensive campaigns against him for their own benefit and from fear of financial loss of the pharmaceutical firms. He had claimed to obtain a Masters Degree and PhD from the University of Denver during an interview with Asharq Al Awsat on the 24th March 2005.