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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.
Efficiency goes up by 85 pc
DUBAI — The strict adherence, by both doctors and patients, to appointments at Rashid Hospital’s outpatient clinics has increased efficiency by 85 per cent, allowing doctors to see a lot more patients in a shorter time.
Patients are now required to come 10 minutes before their appointment with the specialist or consultant and any late comers are not allowed in to see the doctor, instead they are given a new appointment one to two weeks from that date, according to Dr Ali Shakar, Assistant Director of Rashid Hospital for Medical Affairs.
Dr Shakar told Khaleej Times that before the new system was implemented both doctors and patients failed to come on time, with the inevitable result being that a doctor would not have the time to see all patients until well after 4pm.
“We found we had to be strict in enforcing discipline, to make sure patients come on time and do not encroach on other patients’ appointments. If someone comes late then that person is not really desperate to see the doctor and is indifferent, so we stopped this practice.
“We do, however, take into account special circumstances that patients may have. Those who miss an appointment or do not have one but nonetheless need to see the doctor urgently are not turned away, they are allowed to see the doctor at the end of the working day when the doctor has seen all patients with registered appointments, that is after 1.45pm,” Dr Shakar said.
He said that each doctor is allowed each day to see a maximum of three urgent cases without appointments or those who missed appointments. He said that in many cases patients with chronic illness, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, need to fill their prescriptions urgently. In such cases they are dispensed a week’s medicine from the hospital as a stop gap measure until their next doctor’s appointment, he added.
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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