SHARM EL-SHEIKH - In Part I last week, I discussed the experiences of patients in Sharm el-Sheikh and what South Sinai Hospital is attempting to achieve. In Part II, I'll focus on Sharm International Hospital and other, smaller, healthcare providers. Sharm International Hospital Sharm International is a pyramid-shaped medical facility, which I was advised to avoid when I first arrived in Sharm. All I heard about it were negative experiences. But, as I searched the online reviews, I found that visitors to Sharm who happened to need medical care while on vacation wrote well of Sharm International. Admittedly, these were usually limited to minor problems like nosebleeds or wounded fingers. The reviewers generally added that, had their injuries been more severe, they would have preferred not to be treated at the ‘Pyramid Hospital', because of the ostensibly lax attitude they observed among certain staff members, including physicians. As I walked into the hospital, I recalled reading about the supposed healing powers of pyramid-shaped buildings. You enter through the glass doors on the second floor and it feels like you're in a glass castle, but in reality it's just a very clean government building. I spoke to the hospital's general manager, Dr Mohamed Dahy, who told me that renovations started in 2008 after late President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia, who was due to participate in an African Union Summit in Sharm, suffered a stroke. President Mubarak and the First Lady came to visit him. “They noticed the dilapidated condition of the hospital and immediately ordered a total renovation and upgrading,” said Dr Dahy. (He did not say this but I researched it) The President of Zambia was later transferred to Paris for treatment, but unfortunately passed away soon after. “We have undergone a complete makeover and are now in the process of replacing our old equipment with newer, state-of-the-art ones,” he explained. “We have funds to do this. Our ability to treat complicated cases has improved tremendously.” Dr. Dahy gave me a copy of their ‘Vision' and ‘Mission' statements upon request. I read through them and found they reflect a sincere desire to create a good hospital an advanced medical emergency centre capable of handling various accidents and even disasters. Sharm International was the only major hospital in South Sinai to handle people injured in the July 2005 bombings in Sharm and the April 2006 bombings in Dahab. Some might be apprehensive of the fact that Sharm International is Government-run, fearing that a simple task might be obstructed by miles of red tape, while the staff of such an institution could be unqualified. “Actually, our major strength lies in being a government hospital and we have President Mubarak's direct support,” stressed Dr Dahy. “There is some red tape, but our prices are low and we provide the best medical care in the area. “Our medical consultants represent the cream of the doctors from Qasr Al-Aini and Alexandria University hospitals. Our hospital has been officially designated for conferences where we furnish a fully equipped outpatient clinic. “We are building a high reputation among both Egyptians and tourists. We are working on achieving ‘Medical Scale Tourism' and we signed a contract with Thomas Cook in October 2009. We will soon start promoting holiday packages for people seeking medical treatment. “Sharm el-Sheikh is very popular for diving and we are prepared to deal with any injury that might happen as a result. Our decompression chamber is the largest in the Middle East. It can accommodate twelve divers in one session.” “What is your biggest problem?” I asked Dr Dahy. “It's the turnover of staff. Specialists and consultants rotate one week every six months to a year,” he said, as he leaned back in his chair, adding that he's trying to get them to stay longer. “What about follow-up appointments? How can a patient consult with the doctor who prescribed his medications if he then leaves?” “The patient can keep in touch with the doctor by phone or e-mail, especially if he's overseas,” he replied, as he asked his secretary to give me some pictures of the renovated hospital.
Two hospitals, one destination I asked both Dr Sameh Soleiman (General Manager and co-founder of South Sinai Hospital) and Dr Dahy how they can maintain their mission to achieve high standards. Both said they cannot afford to undermine their new reputations. Both hospitals recruit and train qualified paramedics, nurses, pharmacists and aides. They offer a variety of free training courses and workshops. Employees are housed on the hospital premises, with rules and chaperoning services for the nurses. Sharm is not an attractive city for conservative families to send their daughters. Dr Sameh and Dr Dahy say it is their duty to provide a safe, conservative environment for their female staff members. Translators for tourists work on site and others are available on call. Both Dr Sameh and Dr Dahy are ambitious men, aspiring to offer the best medical services in Sharm. This is healthy competition, so long as each hospital - one privately owned, the other a government entity - respects and possibly co-operates with the other. Unrealistic? Perhaps. But such co-operation would certainly be in the best interests of both patients and the city of Sharm. The deficiencies of one hospital could be compensated for by the services of the other. ‘Scale Medical Tourism' requires transportation services, accommodation for family members accompanying those seeking treatment, food delivery and support groups. Once medical tourism has been achieved, both major hospitals and other regional medical facilities will hopefully continue to improve. With Egypt's tourism taking a new shape because of the kind of tourists visiting the country, medical tourism could not have come at a more propitious time. According to both hospitals' visions, the future is promising and the sky is the limit. They face challenges of every sort, especially as both are trying to prove they possess adequate equipment and qualified physicians trained to use it. The goal is to minimise human error.
To be fair It would be remiss of me not to mention another, smaller hospital in Sharm, as well as a few of the city's clinics. Sharm Specialised Hospital has had a reputation for using one physician for all its cases. When I checked the hospital out, I found that it was actually the first hospital in Sharm to receive the ISO, and that its partners were Axe Assistance in England and four hospitals in Italy, as part of the satellite station Net for Care, which is a physician consultation network. Sharm Specialised Hospital in fact has twelve consultants and doctors working in different medical fields. The rumour about only one physician was just that: a rumour. Other clinics dotting Sharm, especially ones in hotels and close to diving centres, offer emergency treatment, as well as dealing with all sorts of cases that might arise with hotel guests as a result of food poisoning, high blood pressure, diabetes, fever, etc. They also have a reputation for being opportunists and squeezing money out of tourists. Whether this is true or not depends on the conscience of the individual physicians working in these clinics. Several years ago, I had my own firsthand experience with these clinics when I visited Sharm with my mother. When she got sick, we contacted the physician on call at the hotel. He treated her professionally and she felt better after following his instructions. Again, one's experience with these clinics will vary from person to person. It is good to have fierce competition, but when competition means gambling with human life, and damaging PR through scare tactics, the end result will be a reputation for negligence and inadequate facilities. I cannot stop here without mentioning Dr Adel Taher of the Hyperbaric Medical Centre in Sharm. He is an international figure for divers from all over the world. His excellence as a diver and in his profession is marked by reviews online in the travel websites of divers and patients, whom he has treated. Sharmers respect him and think him brilliant. He is one of the main reasons divers come to Sharm, because they know that, in an emergency, he'll be there to treat them.
To conclude I was impressed by the hospitals' facilities and equipment that I saw, as well as the outlook for ‘Scale Medical Tourism'. But I also wondered about all the errors and mistakes I'd heard about from my friends. Of course no-one is perfect; human error is bound to happen anywhere, whether in Sharm, Cairo, Alexandria, or even London or New York. The vision we have now in Sharm gives us new hope. One day, the hospitals here will be models for other cities to follow. Nevertheless, an important priority for now is to ensure that all of Sharm's physicians and staff are adequately trained to be precise, efficient, and diligent, and above all to uphold the ‘Medical Oath' (formerly called the Hippocratic Oath). I took a glimpse at this oath and was touched by the following words - words that physicians are expected to repeat aloud when they graduate: “I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. “I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. “I will not be ashamed to say ‘I know not,' nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.” In Egypt, we need to see the application of these precious words. I am sure there are many physicians who truly believe and uphold this oath. But I am also sure there are others who need to review them and take them to heart. Human error can happen anywhere, but in the medical field it is very dangerous - all the more reason for recruiting the best and most conscientious physicians, as the South Sinai Hospital does. South Sinai Hospital and Sharm International Hospital have honorable goals. If attained, they will make Sharm a magnet for excellence in healthcare. Only time will tell. [email protected]
