DOHA: A number of citizens and residents have called on the authorities to impose strict monitoring on private clinics to curb their high fees.
A huge majority of respondents - 98 percent - to an online survey conducted by Al Sharq felt that the prices charged by most private clinics and hospitals are very high. Only two percent said their fees are “acceptable” while not a single respondent had the view that the prices are low.
In reply to another query, 96 percent of said that the fees of private clinics should be fixed by the government. Two percent of the respondents, however, rejected this idea and the remaining two percent didn’t express any views.
Seventy-nine percent of the respondents felt that there is no effective government monitoring on private clinics, while four percent expressed the opposite view. Seventeen percent didn’t give any opinion on this issue.
Reacting to the findings, some citizens said that the delay in getting appointments at HMC hospitals was the main factor that forces many to seek treatment in private clinics, thereby causing a rise in their fees.
Mohammed Sultan, who held this view called on the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) to control the fee structure of private healthcare facilities.
Ahmed Al Dosari, another citizen called for establishing a special committee at SCH to monitor their prices.
Another citizen said that private clinics continue to raise their fees despite a decline in building rents. Majority of the staff of these facilities do not benefit from the hike since they are paid very low salaries. Only the owners and a few doctors are making money at the expense of the public.The Peninsula
