An Arab colleague who worked in Kuwait, then moved to Britain, visited me in my office recently, and we went into comparing the public health services in Kuwait and Britain. My friend told me with confidence: "Your health services in Kuwait are not given justice." A testimony from an honest man who I know and trust. So, we have to admit that health security in Kuwait is of high quality. This is true information that no one reflects to people here.

On another occasion, a Kuwaiti colleague told me about his chalet guard, who complained of chest pain in the middle of the night and how he was rushed to hospital and got treated with stints quickly, without any regard to his nationality or whether he has money or not.

In Kuwait, if any citizen or expatriate complains of any health problems, he finds a close place to help him, a doctor and medical team ready to help. Or if he is involved in a traffic accident, quick response will be there to help.

The colleague who visited me said he was once injured while in Britain and went to the hospital where he works and could not see the doctor while injured until after seven hours, and all those Britons in waiting were sitting all these hours without objection. He also said that an x-ray there take much longer time compared to what the same test requires her in Kuwait, and he did not hear of any complaints from anyone because all people realize that health services need a health evaluation to balance between expenditure and benefit, and this health judgment is the responsibility of health officials and it is not supposed to be a topic of media discussion or an issue to settle political scores.

The major propaganda against health services in Kuwait is leaving the door for treatment abroad wide open. A citizen who goes abroad often hears statements from doctors who are benefiting from the overseas treatment program attacking our services in Kuwait. This helps keep money pouring into their pockets. Otherwise, patients themselves would often criticize health services in Kuwait and describe them with every bad thing in order to justify their travel abroad.

I gathered some information about cancer patients who suffered due to medical errors, some of which are critical, during their treatment abroad, despite the fact that their treatment is already present in Kuwait. And in spite of their suffering, they never complained because the errors happened while they were being treated abroad. If they had went through just a little of what they have suffered abroad in Kuwait, this would become material for a grilling against the health minister and nonstop negative comments about our health services.

I am not trying to say that our health services have reached perfection, but health services in Kuwait do not deserve that much attack and people ignoring the positives which we all enjoy. There is not a citizen or expatriate who did not go through a positive experience once he had a true need for medical intervention.

We really need to limit treatment abroad in the interest of our citizens, some of whom have become experimental tools, while some others receive treatment from trainees abroad. We are also in need of activating guided health media, not only for citizens, rather to doctors and nurses also in order to publish studies and true information about the good quality of services here. This will also help achieve a culture of psychological interaction, whether with doctors or patients, because patients need a smile and the doctor needs a good word. - Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Rai

By Dr Khalid Al-Saleh