Doctors want patients to keep their appointments

Doctors have urged patients to come on time for their appointments to help reduce waiting period, following a patient satisfaction survey by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) released last week, The waiting time was identified by patients in the survey as a key factor for improvement at medical facilities, with many patients saying that more health care professionals were needed to ensure that it was reduced from about 45 minutes. Doctors, however said yesterday that both hospitals and patients had to work together to manage waiting times. "Patients often arrive later than the time of their appointment, and every such delay increases the waiting time for subsequent patients. On the other hand, sometimes doctors need longer than the dedicated 30 minutes to examine and diagnose a new patient," Dr Ezzat Agamy, director of Lifeline Hospital told Gulf News. "Patients therefore need to be punctual when they have appointments. On our part, we expect about a 15 per cent increase in patient numbers by next year, and have plans to increase our medical professionals by the same amount, in addition to a new 100-bed extension to our facilities in Mussaffah and a new hospital building within the city," he added. Article continues below Dr Kaveh Eghtesadi, a general practitioner at New Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi, also agreed upon the need to increase health care professionals in the capital. "As doctors, we sometimes need a longer time than usual to examine certain patients, which obviously increases the waiting time for the next patient. That said, most of my patients arrive without appointments and this naturally means they have to wait longer than those who have booked prior appointments," Dr Eghtesadi said. Emergencies "However, since most patients are unwell and in pain, they often find the wait painful," he added. When contacted, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA), which manages public hospitals in Abu Dhabi, did not wish to comment on the results of the HAAD survey.