This week we experienced for the first time how the healthcare system works in the Kingdom. We were hoping we won't be able to provide a firsthand account any time soon, but Baby came down with a progressively worsening chesty cough and fever, paired with an ear infection. After years of navigating the NHS, I'm pleased to announce that we had a walk in the park...almost. Here's what happened.
Expats aren't covered by public healthcare, and all foreigners must have private health insurance as a visa requirement. We're fortunate to have Husband's employer covering comprehensive health insurance for the whole family, otherwise premiums and out of pocket medical expenses can get quite steep. For the Americans here this is of course probably not surprising, but for us Europeans it can be a bit of a shock to receive the medical bills. From what I hear, the quality of care doesn't significantly differ between public facilities available only to Saudi nationals and private institutions. Luckily there are plenty of modern, well equipped, clean and shiny private hospitals and clinics in Riyadh to choose from, with a lot excellent specialists and English-speaking professionals.
Thanks to the well-established expat network and the various Whatsapp groups for expat families I joined upon arrival to the Kingdom, we quickly acquired a list of recommended paediatricians. It's easier here to see a specialist right away, as opposed to having to go to a GP first and asking for a referral. This makes the processes much quicker, and we managed to get the care we needed right away. We selected a hospital based on proximity to the compound. We were prepared to wait a few days to get an appointment, but were pleasantly surprised by the Doctor's availability.
Everything seems to be done online or via apps in this country, but unfortunately, in our experience, a lot of the processes aren't straightforward and don't work seamlessly. For example, in theory we should have been able to register via the hospital's app, but after trying and failing approximately three hundred times, we still couldn't make work. Things like this can be so frustrating!
In the end, we just turned up at the hospital, which, by the way, is incredibly well signposted so even when stressed and in a rush it's easy to find the relevant departments. Registering in person was a breeze. All we needed was our iqama/ID and phone numbers to create a file. Walk-in appointments are also accepted here, so after paying a reasonable fee (less than £70), we braced ourselves for the long, long wait in the busy waiting area that we're used to back home. Husband popped out to grab a coffee and snacks, and I started chatting with a lovely couple who gave birth recently in the same hospital. It was reassuring to hear about the positive experience they had. I barely had time to finish my coffee from Costa (do they have a monopoly on operating hospital cafés globally? Is this a conspiracy!?) before we were called. While the nurse checked Baby's measurements and vitals, Husband took the time to register the whole family at the Administration desk. This took him approximately five minutes, and he was done before our appointment was concluded. We returned for a follow-up the next day, and are requested to come back next week and just hoping to hear some good news. In the meantime, we're soldiering on, administering the medicine and waiting for the Baby to recover. Of course Toddler also came down with the milder version of the same bug, but he's a real trooper and just by looking at him you wouldn't be able to tell something was off.
It's a huge challenge to have a sick child (or two), but having to navigate a foreign medical system makes it even more difficult. The feeling of helplessness, no matter how seamlessly everything goes, is painful. Trusting a complete stranger working in a very different system from what we're used to also takes effort. I'm comforted by the fact that all the professionals we have encountered so far have been incredibly helpful, kind and patiently responded to all our questions. The system seems to be well-established, the facilities are well-equipped clean and modern, and I'm grateful to have access to excellent healthcare in the first place.
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