Samar Al-Mogren

Al-Jazirah

 

MY son suddenly fell sick while I was spending my vacation in a European country. I took him to a hospital where he was kept for many days.



The day the doctor discharged him, he asked us to remain in the hospital under observation until the evening.



When I finalized the exit procedures, the hospital's cashier was closed. Their working hours usually end at 4 p.m.



I expected the hospital not to allow us to go out and to keep us hostage until we have paid the next morning.



This did not happen. Instead, the hospital gave my son medicine to use at home. They told me that I could pay next day though they were well aware that my medical insurance card had long expired.



We went home and next morning I came to the hospital to pay. I was surprised that my bank credit card did not work. They were not at all worried. They asked me to come back whenever I had the money with me.



I have to stress here that the hospital did not have a copy of my passport nor any other official identity papers. They only had my data that I wrote with my hand.



I remember this incident because if it happened in any of our private hospitals or the government hospitals with sections providing medical treatment against fees, they would have kept my son hostage until the money was paid.



They would not have given him any medicine until thousands of riyals were deposited at their safe.



In contrast, a Saudi woman friend told me that she and her daughters recently had a traffic accident. Their housemaid was with them.



She said they were all taken to a government hospital where she and her daughters were treated. The hospital refused to treat the housemaid though she was bleeding just because she was a foreigner.



She said they took the housemaid to a private hospital that also refused to treat her unless a sum of SR2,000 was deposited.



This shows us the difference between hospitals in Europe and in our country. In the West, the hospitals are humane. Their first priority is the health of people, not money.



They also have trust in their customers. The hospital in which my son was treated was sure that I would come later to pay. They did not ask me to leave my bank card or my passport with them as a guarantee that I would come and pay.



The private hospital to which my friend took her housemaid for treatment had no heart. They did not treat the housemaid as a human with flesh and blood.



The private hospitals in our country are only after money. If you do not have a medical insurance card or cash money then you can go to hell.



The code of ethics are absent from our hospitals though their doctors took an oath on the Qur'an to treat patients as best they could regardless of their nationality.



The hospitals in the West did not take any oath on any holy book but they are more ethical and humane than us. They have real manners, not fake ones like here.



It is time the Health Ministry set things right. It should make it imperative for the hospitals to have a human approach rather than act like merchants or businessmen.