This is the shocking moment an unsuspecting nurse is repeatedly stabbed in the arm by a patient - who was angry after being refused medication.

Rolando Mina, 29, had been filling out paperwork at a reception desk at a hospital in Madinah, Saudi Arabia on May 17.

Moments later the 23-year-old suspect approaches the nurse's desk and grapples with Rolando before plunging the knife into his left forearm as he tries to defend himself.

Terrified Rolando blocked the knife which caused three stab wounds on his left arm and another one on his right. He was treated at the hospital and bandaged up but has had to take time off work after the attack.

He said: ''I was shocked at first. I thought he was only punching me so my instinct was to block it.

''It was only after that I felt the pain, saw the blood and realised the man had a knife. I'm thankful to my colleagues for coming to my assistance.''

Police arrested the Middle Eastern man who told officers he was angry because Rolando, an overseas worker from the Philippines, had refused to give him medicine without a prescription.

Rolando said it was the hospital's policy to only hand out tablets with written confirmation from a doctor.

Jeddah Edgar Badajos, the Consul General of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah, said that the Arab man had been remanded in custody while the attack is investigated.

He said: ''The man is already in jail and the case investigation is on-going. Our health workers should not worry because it is an isolated case.''