While there has been a considerable rise, over the past few years, in the number of new residents in areas that house workers' housing units, medical facilities for such groups continue to be inadequate in some places, they point out.
"We need to travel a long distance to meet our health requirements and such trips end up consuming a lot of time," said an expatriate worker living in a labour accommodation unit on the northern side of Doha.
He said labourers from the area needed to travel to the Mesaimeer workers' health centre to receive medical attention. "It would be so much more convenient for us if we at least had a mobile medical clinic in the neighbourhood," he added.
Workers' accommodation facilities are coming up at a number of places but such blue-collar expatriates have limited options when it comes to healthcare, say sources.
"Yes, the situation has improved in recent times but many people still find it difficult to access medical facilities," said one of them.
As the health centres generally do not function round the clock, the workers have to look for other options if they require medical help beyond the opening hours of the centres, the sources further point out.
Workers stressed that it would be convenient for them if mobile medical clinics offering round-the-clock services were deployed in the neighbourhood of their camps.
New workers' housing facilities are coming up in places such as Umm Salal, Al Khor, Sheehaniya and Mesaieed as a number of large infrastructure developmental projects are taking executed in and around these places. These and some other areas are seeing the arrival of a large number of blue-collar workers regularly, it is learnt.
Workers living in distant areas have to travel to the Mesaimeer workers' health centre for their medical requirements.
A number of workers have urged the authorities concerned to deploy 24-hour mobile medical clinics in areas dotted with labour accommodation units.
