The Ministry of Health and private medical care providers in the Kingdom are set for a face-off over a new regulation governing polyclinics which will take effect soon.
The new law requires polyclinics, soon to be named “special medical complexes,” to appoint consultant physicians and specialist doctors including internists, dentists, obstetricians, ENT and gynecologist.
Polyclinic owners say that as of March, over 40,000 families will suffer financially as a result of the new regulations. About 2,000 health facilities in the Kingdom, including 800 in Jeddah alone, will be forced to close down, says Mohammed Al-Khaldi, owner of a chain of clinics.
Ali Al-Zawawi, the Health Ministry’s undersecretary for private health care sector confirmed earlier that the ministry would shut down facilities that violate the new law.
Polyclinic owners have asked the Health Ministry to reconsider the decision. “There is shortage of consultant doctors in the Kingdom,” Al-Khaldi said, adding: “Unless we are allowed to hire doctors from abroad and provide them with visas, we will be forced to close down. This will put financial and bureaucratic burden.”
Clinic owners say they will incur additional financial and procedural load. “It will be impossible to provide 10,000 doctors all at once to meet the requirements of the new law,” Mazen Al-Sulaiman, a Jeddah polyclinic owner, told Arab News.
Al-Sulaiman said hiring a specialist consultant would cost SR30,000 to SR40,000. “This entire burden will have to be passed on to the patients,” he added.
Mohammed Al-Harbi, head of a heath facility, explained that most of his clients have limited income and are mostly immigrant workers. “The medical examination fees would rise from SR50-70 to SR200 to compensate for the additional expenses arising out of salaries to doctors coming from Arab countries,” he said.
Al-Sulaiman warned of financial depression if health complexes shut down, arguing that If each complex has five people, and each of them has a wife and a child, then 40,000 families would suffer from the complex’s closure.
Another polyclinic owner Samer Al-Ofi said specialist doctors prefer to work in large hospitals. “This decision is not practical and the two-month implementation period for the law isn’t enough,” he said.
Al-Ofi hoped that Health Ministry officials will reconsider the decision. “We need the government’s support for the health sector just like the government supports education by financing private schools,” he added.
2,000 polyclinics face closure if they don’t hire consultants
