By Nader Al-Anazi



Okaz/Saudi Gazette



TABUK – Although hospitals in the Kingdom boast state-of-the-art facilities and medical equipment as well as the best of specialists in almost all fields, many Saudi patients do not have in trust their services and instead prefer to travel to neighboring countries such as Jordan for medical treatment.



Jordanian doctors have proved to be highly-qualified in all medical specializations. This is one of the reasons why many Arab patient, including Saudis, prefer to go to Jordan for treatment.



Saudis, especially from the border region of Tabuk, travel to Jordan to seek treatment for various ailments. According to Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Ambassador in Amman Muhammad Al-Ateeq, around 70,000 Saudi patients visited Jordanian hospitals last year for treatment.



Abdulaziz Al-Anazi says he travels to Jordan for treatment because the specialist hospitals in Riyadh do not have sufficient beds to serve all the patients who visit them.



Al-Anazi was admitted to a general hospital in Tabuk with a blood clot in the head. He said he had to wait for a month for referral to a specialist hospital in Riyadh but the referral never came through. He traveled to Jordan and underwent a surgery to remove the clot. The operation and recuperation took only two days. Khalid Al-Farhan decided to go for treatment in Jordan for abdominal pains after visiting several specialist hospitals in Madinah without any luck. He found relief to his pains after treatment at a Jordanian hospital.



Dr. Abdulelah Al-Saati, chairman of the health committee in the Shoura Council, has said the Ministry of Health has been doing a great job and the committee is monitoring the performance of the ministry and the provision of healthcare services in the country.



Dr. Hussain Daifallah Al-Malki, a member of the committee, said, “Some people wrongly believe that medical treatment outside the Kingdom is better when in fact the hospitals they go to do not have the same advanced facilities and equipment available in Saudi hospitals.”



“Those people are not aware of the huge medical advancements the Kingdom has seen in the last few years. Some Saudi hospitals have become the preferred destination for patients who are looking for treatment for incurable diseases. I believe people will become aware of this fact once the healthcare sector has been privatized,” Al-Malki said.



Dr. Fawzi Al-Hamouri, chairman of the Private Hospitals Society in Jordan, said more than 20,000 Saudis were admitted to Jordanian hospitals in 2018 for the treatment of various diseases while the number Saudi outpatients who visited Jordanian hospitals last year exceeded 50,000.



The total medical spending by Saudi patients in Jordan was estimated at $70 million, Al-Hamouri said, while noting that Saudi businessmen have large-scale investments in Jordanian hospitals.