Public Hospitals
I have a thing with public hospitals in Kuwait. Before I get started, I’m not here blaming the doctors blame it on the Ministry of Health(got it sis-in-law? 
).
1- How come when the shift changes in a hospital, the doctor on duty has no idea what the previous doctor was doing? No written documentation?
2- I didn’t take a picture because for the first time in my life I see something that disgusts me (believe me I don’t get disgusted easily). Why don’t they clean the toilets in hospitals? The one I walked into literally had flies all over the seat, SPRAYED brown matter on the toilet, walls and floor (but not IN the toilet). Aren’t hospitals supposed to be clean?
3- Here’s what I saw: 2 boys, I’ll call one Tootsie Roll kid and the other Michelin Man kid. They were running around recklessly in the hospital ward giggling and pushing each other. Then Tootsie has lil Michelin on the ground, and starts kicking him viciously while giggling. I couldn’t help but stare, he grinned at me, Michelin Man kid was laughed while getting a couple more kicks in the ribs.
Don’t parents know that hospitals are institutions designed for people to recover in peace? Hell if I had kids like that visiting me one day, I’ll inject them with air just to shut them up! Or just to be nice for a change, build a friggin playground and leave them outside, preferably between two busy highways with no fencing.
3- Hey woman, when the security tells you visiting hours are over. Don’t beg, don’t whine. Just get the fuck outta there. Your voice was like nails on a chalkboard. And most of all, DO-NOT-PUSH the security guard. He looked like he was going to physically throw you out. Moron. Oh and by the way woman, he was Kuwaiti and not Egyptian. So why the hell were you switching over to a really bad Egyptian accent, can’t you tell he’s Kuwaiti?
4- Why don’t people respect other’s privacy? What is it with people peeking through doors for a FULL minute just to stare at a patient then walk away shaking their heads?
5- How come there are NO radiologists present in the hospital? At 1 or 2pm sharp, they all disappeared. And of course when you ask someone for a radiologist, you’ll have to wait the next day. Or if it’s an emergency, you’ll have to wait till they casually drive over from the comfort of their homes which by then you should start thinking of who gets what when you die.
6- I’m not racist. Far from it, maybe a little, well just a bit, here’s a message to all the Egyptian doctors on behalf of all pissed off patients in the Kuwaiti Public Hospital system: When a patient asks you something, your reply…your dumb ‘rabeena yekhaleek..rabeena yashfeek’ doesn’t work. If we wanted a preacher we’d go to the mosque/church/synagogue, but we came to YOU to heal us you idiot, don’t fucking preach. Just do your thing! DON’T give me any paracetamol for my bloody heart attack. DON’T shrug off my appendicitis for stomach gas. DON’T just look at me and then tell me what’s wrong with me. DON’T go saying I have psychological problems when I’m sitting there losing a pint of blood per hour. DON’T talk to someone else while I’m speaking to you, pay-attention-you-dumbass! DON’T walk away in the middle of diagnosing a patient…and finally, DON’T you come close to me while reeking of sweat, tobacco and molokheeya.
All this blame goes to the Ministry of Health: They don’t have a budget, so they import quacks to do the job while the real talent gets disgusted and disappear. Of course, the Minister (well all of them) kept siphoning off the hospitals funds to his private accounts.
Fuck you Minister of Health, there are people dying out there you asshole. DON’T sit on your hands. That big FU goes to all the rest of the incompetent idiots that we voted for who do nothing but yap like puppies and piddle on the floor when excited.
And hey doctor, the nurse does a much better job than you can ever do in a lifetime when it comes to a needle. So step aside.
(Ever seen a cross-eyed doctor giving a spinal tap? I have.)
This post is dedicated to my sister-in-laws, who both are great doctors (really, they are..I’m not sucking up!). And to the very, very few doctors out there who really are trying to make a difference despite the Ministry of Health’s chronic fuck ups.
I totally agree with this post! its disgusting how everything else seems more important then health like the ministers next car.
bes sh6reen edezoon 7amood oo 3abood to London for the flu
all the waste of money
u wrote something which all of us have been thinking about!
I really really wish that someone reads ur concern and understand how much trouble it gives to an expatriate while going to a hospital/clinic in Kuwait.
Posh country with very bad government hospitals!!!
My cousin is a doctor, a couple of years ago her son who was a baby at that time (probably 1 or something) was crying all night long and she knew something was wrong, but because of motherly feelings and stuff she couldn’t really give him a full checkup, so her and her husband too the baby to the hospital (either amiri or mubarak) where they had to wait for a while (even though the waiting room was empty)
When they went in to see the doctor, she was rude, and she didn’t even do a check up on the child, she just said “Ma feeh shay, probably colic”
My cousin got so angry and told the doctor that she was a doctor, and she knows that its more than colic. Anyways the baby had an ear infection.
When my cousin later went to complain they told her that they could not do anything.
The DR was not Kuwaiti.
Oh, R, what a terrible experience. I hope, for whatever reason you wre there, that the problem is taken care of and that you will have to spend as little time as possible in such a dangerously unhygienic place!
With all the reports of deadly hospital viruses going around, I would think that visible cleanliness would be a high priority. Aaarrgh!
One day, some day…
*sigh*
I’m so pleasantly surprised at your choice of topic today; I completely empathise with you (and everyone else who’s has unfortunate experiences at public hospitals in dear, sickeningly rich, Kuwait), and I do strongly believe that a reform should take place. There happens to be a very forward-thinking, extremely eye-opening and informative ‘blog’ soley dedicated to this matter, you must take a look at it if you have a minute.
http://kuwaithealth.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the lovely references they made my day
P.S. Your new header is innovative (in a cool, experimental artsy way) however it makes you look like you have no neck..
Keep smiling!
yeah tell me about it bro .. from the past 3 days in mubarak hospital .. I had to learn indian and tagalo so i can cuss the sisters and nurses ! DONT ever tell me that they’re there to make sick ppl feel better !! they’re doing exactly the opposite !
But I really cant complain about the Kuwaiti Doctors, They are very educated, open minded and just make you feel better after talking to them.
nice. heart-felt, blunt, honest.
you know, i’ve heard of a bunch of well-trained kuwaiti physicians who return with loads of motivation and ideas and, after months of struggling against the system, either give up and become numb or find more stimulating jobs elsewhere. the problem with this picture is that they focus their attention on their own little microcosm (i.e. their immediate vicinity) when, in the case of kuwait, it’s the “matrix” that needs to be confronted.
not only do we need to unite our forces but we MUST include you guys (the people of kuwait) in this fight. and, although we’re beginning to see some form of unity emerge within the health care community, i believe that we’re battling for the wrong reasons (why don’t the physician organizations fight for banning tobacco use, fast foods, sedentary lifestyles, the absence of an efficient primary care system, for example, as these are the big killers). where the hell is prevention???? the entire system needs to be reformed from the ground up. it’ll take tons of effort, funding, brains and will. all of which are conveniently lacking… for one, we need to get over our self-centeredness and accept the external help available. plus, and maybe more importantly, we need to change an entire society’s way of thinking, although that’s a story for another day…
thanks again for your thoughts.
enjoy the system, its undefeatable
build a friggin playground and leave them outside, preferably between two busy highways with no fencing.
(oh rashed, U R SO NICE)!!!!!!!! ;”"”D
DON’T you come close to me while reeking of sweat, tobacco and molokheeya.
(LOOOOOL ;Pp! 7ARAM 3ALEK!)
mmm esloobk t7s mn glb MNQHR ;s
although it has been 2 years since u bombed this issue but everything is still the same. i think health minister was changed twice but still everything is the same. here in Kuwait it is really not that difficult to become a doctor, I can be one with my computer Diploma. When its flu,fever,strep throat, ecsema or even alzheimer i can prescribe Augmentin or amoxillin, it is tooooo easy isn’t it? and i will use my diploma in printing the sick leaves which i think r the best they offer :p
the question will always remain ” WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH ALL THE MONEY?”
thanx bro and i really wish if it was published in a newspaper.