JEDDAH, 12 February 2005 — A Saudi dental patient, who required immediate treatment, was shocked when a government hospital gave him an appointment to meet the doctor after three years, Al-Watan reported. “We could not believe what was written in the medical card of my brother, who required immediate treatment to solve his dental problem. He was asked to come after three years,” the patient’s brother told the Arabic daily. He said he had met officials at the Buraidah Central Hospital to convince them to advance the date but his efforts went in vain. “There are a lot of patients and there are people who wait for one to two years for appointment. It’s quite natural in this hospital,” the paper quoted an official as saying without giving his name.
