MUSCAT – Two Indian women walked into the pharmacy section of Abeer Hospital in Ruwi one afternoon. One of them had a medical condition and she asked for some medicine. The pharmacy personnel told them of the rules: they need to consult a doctor first at the hospital who should then prescribe the appropriate medicine.
When the duo insisted for the medicine, the pharmacist had no option but to decline.
Dr Akhil Rahman, regional director, Oman and India, Abeer Hospital and a nephrologist himself, was watching this from the sidelines and quickly came to the rescue. When the pharmacist explained why he had denied the medicine to the duo, he turned to the ladies and asked why they did not want to see a doctor. The duo confessed that they had limited funds, and thereby had no means to pursue a medical consultation. Dr Rahman immediately offered them free consultation, which allowed them to purchase their medication and they went home happily.
No means to pay
Similar incidents where potential patients to Abeer, which is known to promote affordable and accessible medical care, backed out because they did not have the means to pay for their healthcare set Dr Akhil and his team thinking. There was a large portion of people who were forced to distance themselves from obtaining proper healthcare or even make a consultation with a doctor because of their difficult financial situation. This was being done at a great risk to their own lives, and when their diseases get aggravated, it would put them in a bigger quagmire than before as that would also mean treatment at very high cost.
A simple, free consultation offer
Doctors and other officials concerned at the Abeer hospital were mulling over this issue for a long time trying to find a way to help such beleaguered members of the public. Finally, as a first step in their attempt to reach out to this segment of the public, they introduced a very simple scheme which offered free consultation, from 10pm to 8am.
The hospital ran out an even simpler social media message:
“If you’re facing financial difficulties, you can consult our doctors free of charge from 10pm to 8am. Please don’t delay your treatment due to financial constraints.”
Message getting attention
The message began to do the rounds slowly as phone and Whatsapps messages and has now begun to gain traction. As usual, the message received its due dose of bouquets and brickbats. Some praised the introduction of this scheme to the skies, others looked at it with a faint hint of derision noting that there should be more to it than meets the eye. Some even dismissed it off as fake news. But, in reality, the message was grabbing eyeballs.
Social worker promotes offer
Introduced last Thursday, the free consultation offer was getting slow but sure response and soon enough many were sitting up and taking notice of this unique offer, being introduced by a private sector hospital for the first time. It also caught the eye of Syed Shaandar Ali Shah Bukhari, a renowned Pakistani social worker and philanthropist based in Oman. Shaandar took the matter in his own hands and began promoting it, pointing out that it was a good cause and would be beneficial to many. “This free consultation offer by Abeer Hospital is the best example of the human side of healthcare over monetary gain,” Shaandar told Black & White. He took the initiative to inform everyone in his circle about Abeer’s free consultation offer.
Reason to introduce this offer
Dr Mazhar Hussain, specialist emergency medicine and head of emergency department, Dr Muhammed Hasim, hospital director and Dr Akhil Rahman took turns to explain the raison d’etre for introducing this free initiative, which had its own share of risks and had the potential to backfire, despite being a good cause.
But the doctors and the administrative team of Abeer are ready to take that risk. They believe that their effort to bring out a bit of relief to a large segment of the community would succeed. And it is a genuine effort, they stress. “We have been inundated with cases where patients come to us in desperate situations and confess that they will not be able to afford either consultation or treatment charges. We help them in whatever ways possible, but then, we cannot afford to provide full free treatment as that is not practical or sustainable,” Dr Rahman explained to the B&W.
True to those in the medical field who could not bear to stand helplessly as patients without means flailed around desperately, the think-tanks at Abeer decided to take a strategic decision. “We realised that very few patients come late at night and if they do come, it will be for an emergency medical service requirement. So, we decided that the period from 10pm to next morning 8am was the right time to introduce this free consultation programme,” Dr Rahman said.
Can handle crowd
But what if a crowd gathers at the hospital seeking free consultation? Does Abeer have the healthcare and administrative personnel to handle bulk patients?
“We have the means to handle it,” Dr Mazhar said confidently. “Since night consultation is basically handled by the ER (emergency room) or the ED (emergency department) and we work on the Triage system, where we can easily handle 15 to 20 patients, it is not a problem.
“We took this decision to come out with such an offer because it will help a large segment of our patients who do not have the means to pay for either consultation or treatment. This facility that we offer is for such deserving patients only,” noted Dr Muhammed Hasim.
“I have put in over 26 years (20 in government and six in private sector) service in the healthcare industry in Oman and I am witness to the miseries endured by the blue-collar workers. Personally, I have dealt with many patients who are unable to pay for admission and plead to be just provided with medicines. They know they are putting their lives to a big health risk but what can they do? It is tragic,” Dr Mazhar said.
“Such patients end up with irreversible damages to their health, which could have been avoided, had they the means to take the treatment. All of these reasons made us take this step to help such patients get some relief.
By no means are we taking this step to offer free consultation as a marketing ploy and/or reducing our fees to the extent that we affect other healthcare providers. In fact, we hope that our offer inspires other healthcare providers to launch such innovative programmes and all of us can jointly help those in dire need of such medical services,” Dr Rahman said, noting that it was the need of the hour.
To a query, he added: “We believe that our community have a sense of social responsibility and will not misutilise this scheme. Our offer is simple and straight: you have a financial difficulty, then, please do not delay getting your medical procedures. Come to our hospital at the stipulated time and take this free medical advice.” Dr Rahman further noted that they were very grateful of the unstinted support from the top corporate management, especially from Saudi Arabia. “We are very grateful to Alungal Mohammed, the founder and president of Abeer Medical Group, who gave us the green signal for this programme, which he said was an apt service to the community.”
Salient features of the free consultation offer and add-ons:
- Abeer will waive off the OMR3 consultation fee for all deserving patients walking into their hospital from 10pm to 8am
- Abeer will offer 30 percent off on all medical tests (lab tests, blood, radiology investigation etc)
- No offer available on medicines procured from their pharmacy
For more details Contact: 90999335
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