Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia 1990-1994. Royal Commission Hospital, Yanbu 1995-1996.
No matter how efficient the briefing in London, it did little to prepare me for the reality that was 1990s Saudi Arabia.
Following a brief, but thorough orientation at the 1000 bed Riyadh Armed Forces Military hospital, I was assigned to the satellite hospital 60kms south to Al Kharj. Here was based the only munitions factory in the Kingdom. This small but perfectly formed hospital served the several thousand military personnel and their dependents; plus the local Bedou population. Once a high security area, not to be mentioned, recently and amazingly, Al Kharj was named in the Jamie Foxx film The Kingdom.
So began a fascinating learning curve as I adjusted to living a segregated life style in a secretive culture where unmarried males and females were to be kept apart at all costs. Alcohol was forbidden, punishable by public flogging and deportation. Conservative dressing, no loud laughter was tolerated. Nothing that would draw attention to one self, particularly females. The Muttawah, or religious police were ever vigilant, camel whips at the ready. The mere flash of a female wrist or ankle meant a sharp tap on the offending part exposed with said camel whip.
Interrupted only by the first Gulf War, life on our comfortable compound continued. You just prayed that the air conditioning would not fail, perched as we were on the edge of the arid Empty Quarter, where temperatures could soar to 50 degrees centigrade.
Yanbu however lay north of Jeddah on the sparkling Red Sea. Here society was just as conservative, the climate very humid with oppressive heat. It was such a priviledge to be able to snorkel and dive in these pristine waters. There was no tourism at this time so no noisy jet skis or pleasure craft. The myriad neon coloured species of fish spoke of another world beneath the gentle waves. In the hotter months of June and August we could sit quietly at night on the beach watching the Hawksbill and Green turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs.
Otherwise it was the daily grind of running a large, general hospital.
