The criticism is nothing new, but what made it resurface in the Qatari community in particular was a woman’s narration on Qatar Radio of her “harrowing” experience recently.
Her remarks sparked a fresh debate on the issue. HMC has, however, defended itself against the accusations and provided details of its facilities and patient care and treatment over the past few years. It mostly talks of numbers pertaining to 2013.
Observers of the healthcare scene in the country say there is mounting pressure on HMC due to the fast growing population and a severe lack of private healthcare facilities.
There is only one big private hospital — Al Ahli — and it caters entirely to the top-end section of society, while the others are at best clinics.
“We need more and big private hospitals like Al Ahli, though they must be affordable,” said an observer. He told this newspaper yesterday that cost-effective medical care in the private healthcare sector was the need of the hour.
Most expatriate-managed healthcare facilities in the country are at best clinics or polyclinics and they cater only to outpatients. “What we need are bigger hospitals in the private sector,” reiterated the expert.
Another observer said that since the population of the country had literally been exploding, HMC should not be expected to cater to everyone.
“There is indeed pressure on HMC and it must ease with more and more private healthcare facilities of larger scale setting foot in the country,” said the observer.
And HMC, too, admits that the biggest challenge it faces is the fast pace of population growth.
“With this growth, medical needs of people have been growing and becoming more and more complex.”
The Corporation, though, added: “We have taken all necessary measures to expand our services to meet the demand of a growing population”.
