JEDDAH, 31 July — Private hospitals have voiced concern over allowing government-run health institutions to provide treatment by charging fees. They say that the move will trigger a price war that in turn will compromise the quality of health care in the Kingdom.
They also argue that the move contravenes the country’s privatization drive at a time when the private sector is being urged to play a more active role in the national economy.
A row involving the King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) and private hospitals in Jeddah has been simmering over the past few days with the latter totally rejecting the idea of government hospitals treating people ready to pay.
The dispute has now drawn the attention of authorities. They have invited owners of private hospitals in the city for a meeting at the governorate here tomorrow.
Private hospital executives argue that by opening its clinics to insurance patients, especially expatriates, KFSH is negating the very goal for which it was established in the first place — providing free health care to citizens. If the trend is allowed to continue and grow by drawing other public hospitals to competition, this could affect the standard of health care in the country and at the same time scaring off future private investments in the sector, they warn.
Dr. Sobhi Batterji, chairman of the Saudi German Hospitals Group, said since KFSH receives financial support from the government, it should confine itself to providing only specialized services not available at private hospitals. He said KFSH was charging its insurance patients less than what private hospitals charged for specialist treatment. As an example, he cited open-heart surgery for which KFSH charges half the cost at SGH.
“If such a trend is allowed to continue, private hospitals will be forced to close down their specialist sections. The effect on health services could be devastating if these hospitals are relegated to the status of polyclinics. We will then have long waiting-lists of patients for specialist treatment, and at least some of them will be forced to seek treatment abroad,” Dr. Batterji said.
“This contradicts the very reason for which specialist hospitals are founded — to make available advanced treatment facilities within the country. We demand that KFSH or any other public health institution be prevented from treating insurance patients, especially expatriates and their families. The expatriates are the responsibility of the private sector; its growth depends on them,” he said
Dr. Muhammad Salah Mutabaghani, director of the New Jeddah Clinic Hospital and a member of the National Health Commission at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, expressed a similar view. He said private hospitals are not in a position to compete with KFSH, which continues to be subsidized by the state. They may not be able to maintain their specialist divisions for treating chronic diseases or perform complicated surgeries in the face of competition from government-run hospitals, he added.
“Private hospitals are spending millions to provide quality health care to their patients at minimum profits, but KFSH does not share any financial burden and makes huge profits at the expense of the private sector,” Dr. Mutabaghani said.
“This kind of competition is unfair and may curtail the ability of the private sector to make available advanced health care facilities in the country,” he said. He added that this could even drive some of the hospitals to bankruptcy and force them to close down operations after rendering great contributions to lift the standard of health care in the Kingdom to international levels.
Dr. Mutabaghani said opening up the health sector to competition by forcing it to offer services at rates lower than the actual cost would reflect negatively on the market economy. “The result will be a fierce struggle for survival and consequently compromising the standard of the service at the cost of people’s health,” he warned.
Dr. Batterji said that if the trend is allowed to expand and other public health centers including military hospitals joined the race, private hospitals would be forced to downgrade their services or even close down advanced specialist clinics leading to a breakdown in health care services. This, he added, will put more pressure on KFSH itself as the hospital will be compelled to accept a large number of cases despite heavy costs and without bothering about losses.
“Not only that, private hospitals may even have to close down their medium specialist units like orthopedics and neurology which are not profitable and confine themselves to routine operations. They could thus be relegated to the status of polyclinics taking back the health sector in the country to what it was 30 years ago. We don’t think the officials would like to see such a situation prevail,” said Dr. Batterji.
Defending the high degree of professionalism and standard of services offered by private hospitals, Dr. Batterji cautioned that under such circumstances the private sector may refrain from further investment in heath care services stalling growth in the sector.
Citing the negative effects of the move, Dr. Batterji said investors who borrowed large sums would find themselves unable to service their debts. And jobs will be slashed putting the Saudization drive to hold. It will also have an impact on the investment atmosphere prevailing in the country, as businessmen will have apprehensions about competing with the state.
