As an obligation for attending her university lectures, my daughter needed to undergo a coronavirus examination due to suspected contact with an infected patient yesterday.

However, the Sehaty app, which used to give appointments generously within minutes, no longer provides them instantaneously but takes days, and this forced her to look for one at a private health center.

In front of the private health center, there was a long queue that extended to the sidewalk, while inside, we were charged a big fee so we can get the result within 12 hours, so my daughter wouldn’t have to skip her lectures.

The experience prompted me to download a special application for booking examination appointments in the private sector. And I found a variety of services whose prices range between SR65 and SR500, depending on how quickly you want your PCR result.

It was also remarkable that all activities in the health center are almost all dedicated to PCR examinations, and why not since all of these crowds will pay for a check-up that does not take more than a minute, the same amount as medical reviews and consultations!

I am at a loss as to what perspective I should contemplate the issue; do I observe it from a commercial, health or preventive point of view?

The Ministry of Health action to reduce the space for receiving examinations and pushing people to laboratories and health centers in the private sector raise several questions in mind.

The first one is the reason behind the decline of the ministry’s role in the matter. And the second one regarding the logic behind the large discrepancy between the prices of centers, raising the logical question whether the Ministry have any oversight role, or the responsibility is held by the decisions made by private laboratories and health centers?!

I am sure that all patient people who were waiting for long hours and standing on the sidewalks to get tested are conscientious people, who are keen to protect others from the possibility of infection.

But what about others who will avoid checking due to the lack of appointments, or the long waiting period, and the high cost?!

In short, examinations should be facilitated, not difficult, enticed, not alienated!