SHARM EL-SHEIKH - It was scary moving to a town when everyone around you was saying: “There is nowhere in Sharm el-Sheikh that offers good medical care.” Could healthcare in Sharm be so unreliable? Should residents and vacationers there be worried about what might happen if they need medical attention? In this two part special report for the Egyptian Mail, I will examine Sharm's well-known hospitals and several other medical centres, in order to establish whether medical care in Sharm is as scary as my friends claim. When introducing me to life in this resort city, my friends shared with me their terrifying stories. “A simple knee injury ended with my having three operations and now having to use a walking stick,” said one friend. “A woman who was seven months pregnant and went into premature labour was given a variety of medications to inhibit the contractions, which led to complications and infections requiring two months of treatment. “Meanwhile, she was told her baby required an ‘exchange transfusion' because of severe jaundice,” said another. “A doctor prescribed an immediate 20mg injection of Lasix for a patient complaining of irritable bowl syndrome-an extreme solution for a simple problem,” a third friend told me. And I could go on and on. Digging deeper, I found that the knee surgery was indeed to be blamed on human error. When I rang the pregnant woman's mother, she told me that her daughter had flown to Cairo and rushed the baby to a reputable hospital, where the paediatrician on call informed her that her baby's condition was in fact much better than what she had been told in Sharm. “He had only slight jaundice, meaning there was ‘no need to replace all his blood for normal blood from donors',” she added. As for the third case, rather than receive an injection, the patient opted to visit his family doctor in Cairo, who prescribed a simple digestive remedy. After listening to such stories, who in their right mind would dare seek medical care in Sharm? It is for this reason that my husband and I usually visit or contact a physician in Cairo whenever we are sick. But repeatedly seeking medical care in Cairo can be inconvenient when you live a continent away. So we recently decided to take the risk and try one of the hospitals in Sharm. To our surprise, it was an excellent experience! This inspired me to explore firsthand the medical options available in Sharm, instead of going on what other people had told me. As I Googled the names of Sharm's best-known hospitals, searching for tourists' medical experiences, I came across a YouTube clip in Danish with an English subtitle which read: “Danish citizen who was treated for a couple of weeks in ICU for free at South Sinai Hospital in Sharm el- Sheikh, speaking to Danish TV.” I was intrigued by this Danish man who spoke passionately about the treatment he had received in Sharm, and profusely thanked the physicians who'd saved his life. Perhaps there is another side to healthcare in Sharm after all. This prompted me to head directly to South Sinai Hospital (SSH) and meet with its physicians. The entrance to the hospital is spacious and framed with glass windows and large pieces of furniture, yet its ambience was unmistakably homely. I met with Dr Murad Mena Faragallah, an internal medicine consultant and medical director. Dr Murad had treated Alan Lund, the above-mentioned Danish patient. “When we received Mr Lund, he was having convulsions and slipping into a diabetic coma,” he explained. “I took on the case with Dr. Sami Ebeid and studied it carefully, concluding that he was suffering from a deficiency in the parathyroid gland hormone, which had not been discovered before.” Lund was hyocalcaemic, meaning he had “very low calcium levels in his system”. As Dr Murad noted, Lund was visiting from Denmark when “his health took a turn for the worse. After two weeks, he was back in Denmark, healthy, and with all his medical records, so his treatment could continue at home.” What captured my attention were the words of Dr Sami, when contacted by phone during the Danish TV programme: “We soon discovered that he had no money, but we decided to continue treating him. After all, he is a human being.” It is not every day that one hears such comments from physicians. Yet these are the kind of words one would expect from dedicated doctors who sincerely care about the health of their patients because they are ‘human' and not because they are a fountain of money. Later, I met with Dr Sameh Soliman, general manager and cofounder of the hospital, who told me more about the hospital. Interestingly, as a facility, it proved to be one of the most up-to-date hospitals I'd ever seen. “We recruit professors and internationally qualified doctors to work with us as consultants, fulltime, in-house,” said Dr Sameh. “Our reputation attracts them to join our team. Specialists are available in-house as well. Also, we are increasing our specialised departments.” “I joined the South Sinai Hospital team when the construction phase had just begun,” said Dr Murad proudly. “I'd already worked with the same team in Hurghada's Nile Hospital, where we provided high-quality medical care for our patients. Because of the family environment in South Sinai Hospital and the technology available, I feel free to treat my patients as family members and do everything possible to help them get back on their feet.” The newest addition to the hospital's team is Dr Maurice Fahmi, a reputable Anglo-Egyptian physician with thirty years experience as a general practitioner in the United Kingdom. The mission statement of South Sinai Hospital reads: “To share in building the health of the community by providing unique, high-standard, quality-based medical and hospital care for the residents in and visitors to Sharm el-Sheikh.” It is a very ambitious mission statement and to accomplish this goal the administration must be vigilant. “We only opened in October 2009, but we are already expanding,” added Dr Sameh. In the expansion process, Dr Sameh explained, they have acquired an ‘Alligetto Wave and Pentacam' for their Lasik Centre, making them the fifth hospital in the world to obtain such specialised eye surgery equipment. “We are ready to open our cardiology unit with a state-of-the-art catheter lab, as well as the latest MRI machine. Our lab equipment is 2010 produced, similar to the one in the biggest laboratory chains in Cairo, capable of handling thousands of tests,” added Dr Sameh. The hospital was granted the ‘Quality Medical Certificate' from the Ministry of Health four months after opening its doors. It is expected to receive the ISO (logo for the International Organisation for Standardisation) in January 2011. In addition, it has been surveyed by numerous insurance companies, including International SOS (the world's leading international healthcare, medical assistance and security services company), which stated: “South Sinai Hospital offers the best medical care in Sharm.” “Our strength lies in our commitment to help our patients,” Dr Sameh explained. “Our doctors and staff work together as a team; we are always monitoring our operations and we conduct quality control for every detail.” There are strict rules for accepting staff members, such as nurses and technicians. Living in Sharm could invite unethical behaviour and this is unacceptable from any staff member. “We ensure their behaviour and attitude corresponds with our ethical and moral values,” Dr Sameh added. “ ‘One strike and you're out' is our motto: if one member breaks one rule one time, he or she is out.” South Sinai Hospital and other private hospitals in the area face difficulties because of the demography of Sharm. “Our financial wellbeing depends on tourism,” Dr Sameh noted, “While the high cost of marketing limits our introduction to new markets.” But they actually have a different kind of challenge to deal with. Some ‘Sharmers' claim that physicians there request lab work and unwarranted tests. Dr Sameh stressed that each case is studied diligently and no test is requested unfoundedly. One symptom could mean different ailments; therefore, to pinpoint the problem, several tests might be required. “We are working hard to overcome these challenges, by recruiting the best physicians available,” Dr Sameh added, giving examples of different cases that require a number of tests. “And, because of these tests, the diagnosis is precise and we have actually saved lives.”
