An Egyptian doctor has miraculously survived a brutal attack while at work in a Saudi hospital, after a local resident shot him three times and tried to stab him to death.
The doctor, named Ayman Abdul Salam Rizq, was in the corridors of his hospital in al-Qaseem when he was assaulted by a Saudi citizen who believed the doctor was at fault for the autopsy of his brother.
Rizq, aged 60, is now in a stable condition and recovering from his wounds, having had all three bullets surgically removed from his chest. He has been joined by his family in Saudi Arabia, who will remain with him until he is safely discharged from hospital.
The attack has caused widespread outrage in Egypt, coming just days after the murder of an Egyptian pharmacist in the Saudi kingdom.
A suspect is now in Saudi custody awaiting charges.
Revenge attack
Rizq was assaulted over unfounded links to an autopsy that took place in the hospital just days before. Public prosecutors had ordered an autopsy on the suspect’s brother, suspecting foul play in the death of the individual, according to local reports.
Egyptian media say that the suspect entered the hospital and attacked at random, enraged by the autopsy. However, the doctor who was attacked was not involved in the autopsy process, but just happened to be in the same part of the hospital.
The suspect delivered such forceful blows with a meat cleaver that he broke the doctor’s arm - which he is now receiving surgery for.
Pharmacist’s murder
The violent targeting of an Egyptian medical professional in Saudi Arabia comes just days after a Cairene pharmacist was murdered in Sakaka.
A woman in the kingdom was arrested last week after an Egyptian pharmacist was shot dead for reportedly refusing to hand over medication without a prescription.
Pharmacist Ahmed Hatem Madi was shot inside his place of work in Sakaka, northwest Saudi Arabia, after he allegedly declined a request for antibiotics from a woman, Egyptian media reported.
Madi - a father of two - travelled to Saudi Arabia for work and to provide for his family and father who suffers from cancer, his sister told Cairo 24.
The incident has caused uproar on social media, with activists demanding justice for the Egyptian victim while spreading a hashtag translating to “the rights of the pharmacist Ahmad must return".