Health Practice in Qatar

I think it's about time I let on how good the medical system is here in Qatar.  First off, they operate under a dual system of public and private hospitals.  The Hamad and Al Rumailah are publicly funded hospitals open to everyone, where treatment is free.  Friends who have used the system have described it as pretty efficient, well-organized in terms of administration and wait times, with empathetic nursing staff and well-trained doctors from all over the world.  I heard one horror story of an MVA victim who was refused treatment without a police report and who was transferred to the private sector, but other than that - stories are good.  Apparently the policy with emergency care is that treatment must be accompanied by a police report.  A story from the Ain Khalid Nursery School - a child was bitten by another kid and prior to treatment, mom had to fill out a police report.  I guess we could debate the issues - at least treat first pending a report I would say.

I was helping a friend the other day and had an opportunity to sit at Al Ahli Hospital waiting for them to go through a three hour procedure.  The hospital looks like a five-star hotel, the equipment is state-of-the-art and I don't think I have ever been as well treated as a visitor.  I was even served frequent cups of tea and coffee by a very friendly "blue lady" whose only job was to provide hot drinks to anyone on the floor.  All the staff I encountered - from the doctors, nurses, admin staff and cleaners - all seemed very happy and so accommodating. 

The service is exceptional - for example, another friend went in with a swollen knee - within two hours she had been examined by an orthopaedic surgeon, she had had both x-rays and an MRI and! miracle of miracles - the doctor sat down at the end of that to explain the results and suggest a course of treatment.

Things have really improved apparently - some years ago there wasn't the equipment or the training to deal with cancer treatments and patients were flown to Spain and other European cities to undergo radiation and surgery.  Now, everything is done here.  The good thing is that they are now into the education and preventative phase as well - just a few years ago women did not talk about breast cancer and would avoid consultations.  Today there are presentations, education and advertising - with the result that people's lives are being saved.

A problem area being addressed right now is credentials - it appears that there are unscrupulous individuals who set up in private practice here with falsified credentials, cv's and education certificates.  But they are onto them at last - credentials are being checked and if you have done the despicable, it's a 3 year jail term and a QR10,000 fine, and then deportation.  The down side - I am currently going through the process myself and it has taken 4 months already and no end in sight.

Here's to our health wherever we may live!