The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The five impaneled doctors and two radiologists at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) are overburdened with the high number applicants that require medical screening to mainly get to Australia.
In 2018, JDWNRH facilitated the medical screenings for 3,142 applicants, 4,442 applicants in 2019 and 1,703 applicants in 2021. In 2022, with just the seven staff, they have facilitated the services to 4,654 applicants as of 30 August.
In addition, they have registered 560 applicants from 1 to 10 September 2022 who will undergo medical screening.
An official from JDWNRH said there are numerous challenges at the moment. Even if the number of certified doctors are doubled, but without enough radiologists, the medical screenings cannot be sped up.
The hospital used to see 8 clients in one batch in a day from Monday to Friday from 4 pm to 7 pm, however, they had to increase the number of batches and number of days.
He said, “Given the huge number of clients and the burden on our staff, we have increased the number to 80 clients starting from 8 am to 7 pm from Monday to Friday. And depending on the availability of the staff, we sometime take only 40 clients in a day.”
JDWNRH cannot compromise on its medical services by taking lots of applicants, he said, adding that they also have started the services during weekends with 42 clients each day. The hospital expects to come back to normal routine when the number of clients goes down.
The only option of providing fast services is to increase the number of medical staff, but both the JDWNRH and Ministry of Health do not have the authority over the matter. Doctors have to be impaneled by the Australian Government. However, discussions for more doctors are on, and if approved, the hospitals in Gelephu and Mongar will have impaneled doctors as well.
Meanwhile, many applicants shared their grievances over the slow and inconvenient services. They also shared their concerns over hospital staff being biased while providing the services.
“The talk on us being biased is just a rumor. After such rumor, we started checking the applicant’s Confirmation of Enrolment (COE), and accordingly we give them the appointment. For instance, we give priority to those whose intake is in October while we give later date for those in the February intake,” the official from JDWNRH said.
When an applicant asks to reschedule the appointment date, then JDWNRH thoroughly check their COE, and accordingly the request is considered.
He further said that there are lapses from the consultancies side as well. They take too much time giving Health Assesment Portal (HAP) ID to the applicant, and eventually the hospital gets the blame as the applicants do not get their appointments.
Meanwhile, an applicant, Jigme, said that the long wait to get an appointment is frustrating.
“The more we wait, the more interest we have to pay for the loans we have availed for our studies. We understand the burden hospital is going through, but it would be nice if they can at least enhance the services by employing more staff.”
Similay, Lhamo said that she has to reach the college by the end of September, but the appointment she got was towards the end of the month, however, after requesting, she got an appointment in the first week of the month.
She said, “I was expecting that I will get an appointment in two to three days, but the ground reality is different and it is annoying at times.”
Individuals are charged Nu 1,000 for the service.
