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Hospitals pay the price as fees empty waiting rooms

DUBAI - Patients at the outpatient clinics of Rashid Hospital say the long queues of people waiting to see a doctor have been eliminated not because of the introduction of a more stringent appointments system, but because hospital services are no longer free of charge for expatriates.

Thus fewer people choose to go to public hospital for medical treatment.

Khaleej Times interviewed a cross-section of people coming for treatment at Rashid Hospital on their views about the cost and efficiency of medical services offered by the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms).

Nesreen Al Ali, a patient who regularly visits the colonoscopy clinic at Rashid Hospital, said that when hospital services were free of charge, there was hardly a place for any patient to sit or stand.

“Charging Dh40 for an appointment with a general doctor and Dh100 for a consultant is a huge amount to pay. I am charged Dh100 each time I visit the consultant and I have to pay another Dh100 in case I need a medical test. When people were faced with the hike in fees, they opted to go to private hospitals instead, that offer the same medical services for almost the same price.

“Since every medical service at the government hospital is paid for, you can hardly see patients waiting in long queues for their turn to meet the doctor anymore. These days, public hospitals are seeing only a handful of patients each day. People cannot afford to pay such huge amounts. As the cost of living increases people simply cannot afford to pay a huge amount of money on medical services.”

A.M. , another patient, said in an anguished voice: “Previously medicines prescribed to patients were given free but now we are even charged for the medicines we require. I am prescribed colon tablets which alone cost me more than Dh400 per month in addition to the huge amounts paid each time I see the doctor.”

“The Dohms is regularly filling the pages of newspapers with common news about the launching of new patient services and are overlooking the fact that they are causing financial hardships to many families in the UAE. We are patients and not customers and should be treated with more mercy.”

Abdul Kareem M., another patient, said: “Government hospitals are turning into commercial organisations aiming to getting maximum profits from patients overlooking the fact that they should be non-profit establishments that treat both the rich and poor members of society.

“People earning a good living are finding it hard to cope with the expensive medical charges so what can be expected from the poor members of society!” he exclaimed.

Abdul Kareem urged the health authorities to reconsider and reduce the medical charges, which he said are doubling each year.

Shirven Hakimimi, another patient, expressed her dissatisfaction against the expensive medical charges.

“I prefer waiting long hours, standing in queues rather than being shocked at each visit and ending up paying a huge amount. Paying a visit to a doctor must help you rather than cause you financial hardship. With such expenses involved, I prefer medicating myself rather than paying for a visit to any hospital, but sometimes you can’t help it,” he said.

Dr Shakar said while there will be those who complain about a new system, which will inevitably have teething problems at first, there are many more patients who have expressed appreciation to the hospital for streamlining appointments.

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