Question PHCC’s broken "24-Hour Policy" is an absolute nightmare—We are patients, not a concert crowd!
I am writing this out of sheer frustration and anger regarding the Primary Health Care Corporation’s (PHCC) new appointment policy. It feels like the system is deliberately designed to make it impossible to see a doctor.
Whenever you call them to book an appointment, they give you the same script: "Appointments can only be booked 24 hours in advance." But guess what? It is always fully booked. Their only alternative advice? "Just do a walk-in."
Following their advice, I went to my local health center on Sunday. What followed was a complete insult to human dignity:
The Reception Bottleneck: First, I took a number and waited over half an hour just to speak to a receptionist, only to be referred to the Triage Nursing room.
The 4-Hour Triage Black Hole: I got my number for Triage at 6:00 PM. My turn was finally called up around 9:40 PM—almost a 4-hour wait just for basic triage!
The Triage Black Hole: I waited for more than 1.5 hours just to get into triage. When I finally asked the triage nurse how much longer it would take, she couldn't give an answer because of the sheer volume of people. When pressed, she gave me a rough estimate: there were 50 patients ahead of me. 50!
No Management, No Accountability: Frustrated, I tried to find a manager or a Head of Department to lodge a complaint. Nobody was there. The only person available was the head nurse, who openly admitted that these new policies have completely overloaded the staff and the facility.
The waiting area didn't look like a medical facility; it looked like a crowded concert or a public rally. There wasn't even enough capacity to accommodate the patients—mostly everyone, including women and senior citizens, was forced to stand for hours.
We visit health centers because we are sick and need immediate medical attention, consultation, or medication. Keeping sick people standing for hours on end is completely unethical and dehumanizing.
My question to the PHCC policymakers is this: If you are no longer willing to entertain expats, why don't you just say it openly on your social media accounts or publish it? Why put us through this systemic insult?
If the goal of this 24-hour booking policy was to streamline healthcare, it has failed miserably. It is overloading the medical staff and treating paying residents like livestock. PHCC management needs to wake up and fix this broken system immediately.
Has anyone else experienced this nightmare recently? How are we supposed to get basic healthcare under these conditions?
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u/Bewinxed Developer | Founder | Paramedic 26d ago
Many staff were laid off 😢 and almost no flow processing, what do you expect...
You have to like keep following up or you will be forgotten
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u/Moix888 26d ago
But it's been like this even before the mass redundancies! I'd happily pay more(than 100 for health card) if it meant getting better service. From my experience with different health centre and medical commission when I first came here , it feels like there's no oversight or accountability for the service they're delivering! No wonder most people even locals choose to use private clinics instead
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u/No_Pea608 26d ago
Now think about what happened at the worker's health center; it was miserable. I went there to check my eyes because I had a problem with an allergy. At 6:30 PM, I went in; the doctor saw me at 1:00 am, and then at 2:00 am, I came home.
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u/Automatic_Bug_7809 26d ago
I think it depends on the health center. I was just at the old airport branch and i saw a doctor in less than 30 minutes of waiting. They are strained because hmc fired half the staff. I honestly think they will transition us to private hospitals with an insurance plan.
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u/DayGood1755 26d ago
I don’t even bother. Private only for me. Still cheaper than my home country.
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u/DepartureEntire3970 26d ago
I totally agree😭, I went to Mesaimeer because I have a really painful toothache, and I waited for an hour for my number to be called for Initial patient triage. When it is my turn, they said I need to go straight to another reception specifically for dental, so I wasted 1 hour waiting for nothing. When I went to the dental receptionist, she said I need to have an appointment because they cannot accept walk ins anymore because there's too much patients. I explained to her that it's an emergency, that the pain is unbearable, but she got angry and just said to come tomorrow at 7 am or get an appointment 😭
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u/Bright-Carpenter-182 26d ago
Toothache is not an emergency
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u/Maleficent-Media-165 20d ago
Pray you don't get one. Everything thing can be an emergency even a stomach upset.
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u/Ambitious-Ad6236 26d ago edited 26d ago
Get insurance. QLM has one year policy for QR650. There are many good affordable private clinics. With copay you’ll pay like Qr50 for a visit, maybe less.
I had to go to a PHC for an emergency. It took them two hours to attend to an active bleeding. Zero urgency, Doctor was not caring. I should have gone to Al Ahli, which my work insurance covers. But I was in a state of shock and unfortunately thought the government health care was the best place to go for help.
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u/PossibleFlower4170 Expat 26d ago edited 26d ago
Private Insurance all the way. Al Koot. naseem & aman all the way. even the one at west bay top floor 🙌🏻
that 100 for medical card i pay every year will never be used by me 😅
ps: tried getting a visit at phcc last year i guess for wife's some issue. appo gets rescheduled ever since to every 3 months after 😂😂 next one is in nov which will get rescheduled to again q1 2027 🤣🤣
edit: firing news at hamad is true. know someone personally affected by it.
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u/LurkyDismal Qatari 26d ago
I am curious to know which PHCC it is.
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u/Bad_Edditor8910 26d ago
Some are better than others, no doubt, but the ones at the bottom are below-standard.
The reception at my PHCC has worked at snail's pace for decades. The doctors are excellent, but even they are frustrated by the lack of care when sending patients over and so on. Some of the receptionists have worked there for many, many years, but if they were fired and replaced with competent, job-insecure and therefore diligent workers, the PHCC will be 80% better. I guarantee you that. Once in a while a temp worker would come in, and you can see they're trying their best, then come next week their energy is drained, likely by the more senior receptionists.
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u/Remarkable-Truth3377 26d ago
I had a similar exp at Qatar Uni Health Center.
Went a 7.15 AM and didnt get to see the Doc until 1 PM
Keep in mind I did call the days before to schedule an appointment (i wasnt in an urgency to go) and they told me no appointments, go to the center and wait.
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u/FZPSC 26d ago
I think it will be the same in all PHCC....
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u/reebellious 26d ago
Nah, I've never had an issue at Rawdat Al Khail.
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u/viper212 26d ago
39 degree fever and they told me to go home last year 🙂
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u/omeganic_dalai_lama 26d ago
With all respect: 39 degrees fever is possibly uncomfortable but not a life threatening situation.
So the advice you got is totally okay....really nothing wrong with it!
Go home, take 2 paracetamol, drink enough fluids and make sure to have enough rest and sleep!
What would you want and expect doctors to do about a fever anyway??
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u/viper212 26d ago
When it's due to an inflamed appendix that had to be removed, it is serious, which was ignored 3 times prior, I think it qualifies as serious
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u/Bad_Edditor8910 26d ago
Oouff, so sorry to hear. Everyone has a different pain tolerance and a different way of exhibiting/reacting to that pain. Then again, it could totally be that triage nurse's fault. Mistakes happen but remember, not all five fingers are of the same length.
Glad you're okay now!
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u/omeganic_dalai_lama 26d ago
It seems funny to me that a nurse and/or a doctor would ignore an inflamed appendix and after checking up on you send you away with that 39 degree fever.
It being ignored for 3 times prior is definitely not a good thing.
The thing is: if there is/was an acute appendicitis they should have never send you home. You want to prevent at all time to end up with a burst appendicitis because action (an operation) is then immediately needed.
So my guess is your situation was not grave enough to keep you in the hospital!
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u/Quiet-Exchange-2760 25d ago edited 25d ago
Yup, I have to wait up to 4 hours at times simply for triage. And then another hour to see the doc.
Meanwhile during that time, locals just walk in or have the call number changed for them upon request so they don’t wait. I know it’s your country, and I respect that, but don’t drag it too far.
Complaining on their dedicated platform was also very difficult as they had strict rules on what to complain about and also required IDs, meanwhile complaints should usually be private imho.
I recently started going to Naseem clinic, consultations aren’t free but hey, they treat you like a human at least.
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u/Solid_Passenger_6603 24d ago
Not to mention how frustrating it gets when you have to take a ticket as Non-Qatari for blood tests etc and wait hours while the locals get their ticket and get called within minutes. I am sick the same way the other person is. I get that it’s their country but a sick person shouldn’t have to wait based on where they come from.
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u/Unique-Bluebird-5282 26d ago
It’s good that HMC is nowadays cleaning itself by removing these dinosaurs. A major revamp is needed.
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u/Amazing-Stop-9963 26d ago
These are way too much waiting hours for a health center. May I know which health center is this?
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u/FZPSC 26d ago
Gharrafa Al Rayyan
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u/Limp_Emergency1579 26d ago
Actually its not the first time esp for gharaffat al rayyan 😅😅 u have to wait for very long time…Imagine, u came there bec u r sick but then u got to spend more than 4 hrs just to be seen by dr instead of resting at home… My healthcenter on the same branch and have been visiting there since 2017 but recently i came bec i was having high pressure only to find out that i wasnt on their system anymore and i needed to update my file ,, submit the required documents (contract, kahrama… etc etc.. Guys i was like.. wtf i have severe headache and pressure of 159/98 …. End of the story… went to private in Reyada Medical Center and was cared for what i paid… Imagine, every yr i update my healthcard for 100 and this is what i got… Id rather visit Reyada to be honest…
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u/RoystonQtr22 24d ago
Just visit private, it's reasonable - aster is around QAR 50 or 100 (premium) for consultation ....had visited PHCC only for covid shots. Nothing else.
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u/Even-Negotiation8917 22d ago
Oh man I just did yesterday in the ambulantary center 5th floor for ENT where I have heel lined up for a surgery, they say they will call me since 3 years and the doctor who I visited is in vacation from December last year senior nurse told me so to ignore my asap medical need and the guy in the appointment section is a bizarre human creation I don’t want to expose the racism which actually happens couldn’t have agreed more bro
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u/South_Dragonfly2330 22d ago
Contrary to your situation, what i experienced during last visit was a very less wait time. Maybe half an hour max from token to doctor’s office. Maybe it was due to the fact that i was seeing a GP and not a specialist.
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u/Maleficent-Media-165 20d ago
Been chased away from the walk-in, the guy told me I should come next morning at 5am as if I had come for a job interview. Funny there was a cue behind me. He told me to go buy pain killers from the pharmacy outside It makes sense that they are pushing us to private clinics which are expensive as hell, only qatari can afford and may be some top notch exparts. It's terrible
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u/thirdeyenerd 19d ago
The issue is with communication. You wait hours only to hear that you should’ve gone to a different reception or they only take emergency etc.
sometimes I’ve seen the nurse in front treating the receptionist like its their boss. All the patient would’ve wanted was clear instructions.
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u/Captain-Tummy 26d ago
Any change in process creates challenges. Give them some time so that it could be rectified.
Also make sure to give your feedback to the authorities directly. Do not expect the go public so that authorities come here and take your opinion.
As a person living here, take responsibility to contribute to the betterment of the system. Let your frustration aside and try to reach the higher level officers and help them to navigate this situation.
If you lived here during COVID, you would rethink before you complain. What an outstanding support these healthcare professionals provided us. I see that the system is matured to handle even pandemics.
Let’s hope your next visit to PHCC would make you feel the improvement.
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u/Happy-Ad-3419 26d ago
Well, a lot of factors can be considered.
- Is your case urgent or no. They prioritize according to urgency, priority group (elderly, pregnant, child, etc) and of course (sad to say) if you are Qatari or an expat.
- Triage nurses are there to triage patients, they do not have control on how many patients or how quickly the doctor can see patients. They also cannot keep tab on the queue after you see them. Better ask the receptionist.
- You made a great move by speaking to the head nurse. A better move would be speaking to the customer service and they will give you a paper so you can lodge your complaint. Or you can also call 107 so that it can reach higher level.
- Some health centers are more congested than other health centers, Gharafa is notorious for being a super busy health centers since it caters to both Qataris and Expats alike.
- Staff are overworked and overwhelmed with all the retrenchment happening all over the country. Patients also are tired and exhausted from all the changes in the procedures. We are all suffering until someone from higher management intervenes and makes substantial change, and usually (tbh) they will only move if one Qatari will complain.
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u/FZPSC 26d ago
I try to find the shift Incharge of admistratio but there was no one there to handle things everyone was just following the orders from PHCC but no one was there to accept that yes I am the head of evening shift.
I did Launched a written complaint to customer service representative and also launch it on 107.
According to them our team member will contact you tomorrow which is today, but no one from customer services to dare to reach back.
Which shows how professional they are in dealing with customer services, or in other words your complaint keep no value for them.
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u/Happy-Ad-3419 26d ago
They will reach out to you, it may take a few days but they will. Or you can raise a complaint again to inform that no update on your case until now. Everything in 107 is recorded so you can have proof.
Admin usually working during mornings. So maybe thats why they can’t give you the “boss” during that time.
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u/Dz_QRexpat 26d ago
You can always go private you know, not like you are paying any taxes to fund HMC anyways
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u/FZPSC 26d ago
Its not about paying any taxes to fund HMC its about the services for all then it should be for all and if there is some hidden notes then declare it openly.
Why to hide behind such policies...
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u/Independent_Cream_57 26d ago
Priority is always given to nationalites wether in triage, lab , radiology or consulting a doctor...
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u/Automatic_Bug_7809 26d ago
You do know that taxes are already included when you pay for groceries and stuff right? And your RP fees is also considered as your health insurance. Not everyone can afford private health care without insurance.
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u/Dz_QRexpat 26d ago
No you are not paying taxes genius. What you are talking about is consumption tax which is broadly known as value added tax, which isn’t yet applied in Qatar.
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u/Solid_Passenger_6603 24d ago
But you do pay 100 Riyals every year to renew your health card, you also pay a doctor’s fee to be seen. Sure it’s not A LOT but it still is something and not completely free.
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u/Remarkable-Truth3377 26d ago
They recently fired alot of ppl from HMC. Some were rehired at a lower rate but in an already strained system they just added alot to the strain.
Someone wants ppk to migrate to private clinics. Which tbh are terrible and very expensive. The ones that are good are targetting upper class and upper middle class. 1000 Qrs for a consultation is ridiculous....
But someone will still come and say, I saw 4 nurses doing nothing and everything is good....