Disappointment at hospital
Dear Sir,
The appointment system at Doha’s Al-Ahli Hospital’s clinics leaves a lot to be desired.
I recently went to Al-Ahli Hospital’s internal medicine clinic at 3.15pm after taking an appointment for 3:20pm to see a doctor. I was told at the clinic that the doctor had five patients before me and a sixth one who had taken an appointment for 1:30pm. This meant that I had to wait for at least three hours before my turn came.
When I talked to the nurse and also the hospital’s customer service attendant, they informed me that “this is a normal problem at Al-Ahli”. What a preposterous answer is that?
It means that the hospital is aware of the problem but is doing nothing to improve it. Rather than giving a patient such useless explanations, the hospital staff should identify the problems and use their power and energy to solve them.
As a sign of protest, I refused to be treated by the doctor that day but met him for a few minutes just to bring the situation to his notice. The doctor noted down my mobile number and said he would call me back once he was free. However, no one has ever called me back.
This was not the first time such a delay had happened to me at the hospital. Once I had taken an appointment with the same doctor at the internal medicine clinic and had to wait for two hours while suffering in excruciating pain before being able to see him.
In another instance, I went to the hospital’s Emergency section with severe vertigo and was referred to the internal medicine as the nurse there felt that mine was not an emergency case. I went to see the internal medicine doctor then and, as I feared, I was told that I was a walk-in patient, hence they could not give a specific time when a doctor would attend to me. I went back to Emergency and informed them about this. However, they refused to treat me there.
Given the above, if a doctor takes so much of time attending to one patient, the appointment system should be set as such that they all should be given at a time difference of at least two hours.
A hospital must treat visiting patients quickly and promptly. It is not a place where someone can spend two to three hours drinking coffee and tea as if it’s a picnic. (One must admit that at least the teaboys there are quite prompt in serving the drinks!)
Khurram Alvi
(e-mail address supplied)
Response from Al-Ahli Hospital
Dear Sir,
First, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience and disappointment our guest (your reader) has experienced recently.
Al-Ahli Hospital is experiencing unprecedented demand for service at the moment. This factor has challenged us to some extent. However, we are working diligently to improve the quality of our service and care. This includes increasing the number of doctors in the clinics and in Emergency as well.
A thorough investigation of the circumstances leading to (your reader’s) complaint has been conducted. This has resulted in counselling all staff involved in how to provide more responsive service.
I would like to thank our guest for providing valuable feedback and enabling us to improve the service we provide to guests. Also, we would like to thank you for giving us an opportunity to respond.
Bilal Zibdeh
Director, Business Development & Marketing
Al-Ahli Hospital
PO Box 6401
Doha
