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Lack of Doctors Speaking Arabic Turns a Problem

DUBAI — The government has been urged to hire Arabic-speaking physicians to bridge the doctor-patient 
gap and deliver better health services at the primary level.

Discussing regional challenges brought about by escalating healthcare costs and changing population needs, experts said the region was heavily dependent on expatriate healthcare staff, and that posed a challenge to the national human power development.

“Medicine cannot be effective at the primary level unless you are able to explain your condition clearly to your doctor. And this can happen only if 
you speak the same language,” Dr 
Tawfik Al Khoja, Director General, Council for Health Ministers, GCC told Khaleej Times.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Challenges in Healthcare in GCC organised by the Dubai School of Government on Thursday.

“Even Arabs have different accents,” Dr Al Khoja said. “Therefore, it is advisable to hire local staff and avoid adverse implications.”

He said though language was not a barrier at the curative level, instances in the region suggested that doctors prescribed wrongly since they were unable to understand the patient’s problem.

Currently, Saudi Arabia and the UAE employ a very high percentage of staff from overseas in the healthcare sector. In 2007, 80 per cent of the physicians in the UAE were expatriates, nurses 92 per cent and pharmacists 46 per cent.

Bahrain has already achieved success in the nationalisation of dentistry, pharmacy and laboratory services.

The language barrier, high dependency on expatriate staff can cause market instability, he said. “Other than frequent salary complaints, expatriate doctors and medical staff are relatively expensive and have high attrition rates,” he added.

Dr Al Khoja said that despite receiving better remuneration, expats preferred to move back to their home countries after a short stint in the region. “This movement affects the doctor-patient relationship and breaks continuity of service,” he added.

The region also has to overcome other challenges: for instance, limiting the spread of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and obesity

“However we have problems implementing of these programmes due to absence of data, lack of surveillance methods and inadequate health facilities,” explained Dr Al Khoja.

To improve the status of healthcare in the region, Dr Al Khoja suggested the implementation of new approaches in treatment. “We should strengthen the role of primary healthcare, initiate research activities and intensify health education,” he added.

At a healthcare travel conference recently, experts urged local government to engage in a national dialogue and form public private partnerships to meet the challenges of a growing market.

They said the government needed to address licensing, recruitment and accreditation issues in the healthcare sector to meet the rapidly growing local and regional market.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.ae