In an old interview, former MP Nabil Al-Fadhel said, “We must change our approach to managing government hospitals and make them run like any five-star hotel. The state of most of our hospitals is deplorable”. What Al-Fadhel said is largely accurate. It is wrong to entrust the management of a large hospital to someone whose qualifications are limited to being a doctor with a relatively long period of practice. Often, such individuals are not innovative in their work because if they were, they might not have accepted the administrative position.
This is not to say there aren’t a few exceptions. What is happening in the Ministry of Health mirrors practices in several other entities, such as appointing military personnel to manage civilian technical sectors in security agencies like the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defense, and the National Guard. Another example is assigning a religious figure to manage and invest endowment funds, rather than appointing an expert specialized in investment.
Having a doctor lead the medical staff and oversee treatment management allows the Ministry of Health greater flexibility in appointing general managers for hospitals, whether they hold specialized management degrees or are proven administrators.
The physician in charge of the medical and treatment departments should not be burdened with other administrative tasks, such as coordinating with cleaning companies, managing food supplies, overseeing security, handling laundry, or disposing of contaminated materials. I did not expect the strong negative reactions to my article about the Dasman Diabetes Institute, particularly regarding the fact that the majority of its patients are expatriates and that it does not provide the same level of care to Kuwaiti patients.
What many failed to realize is that the Dasman Diabetes Institute is primarily a research institute, and secondarily a treatment and experimental center. Patients who refuse to participate in the institute’s trials are not accepted. The institute was established to monitor this serious disease, which is prevalent among Kuwaiti citizens, to conduct safe research and experiments, and to develop results that benefit both the patients and society.
Any patient has the right to withdraw from the experiment at any time. Therefore, the institute accepts only Kuwaiti citizens, likely to ensure continuous monitoring of their condition over an extended period. According to an informed source, the institute’s distinction is largely attributed to its Board of Trustees, and especially to its first chairman, Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer, who served for 14 years.
The institute’s first director, Dr. Kazem Behbehani, managed it efficiently for six years before being succeeded by Dr. Qais Al-Duwairi, who served for eight years. Following this, the distinguished physician Dr. Faisal Al-Rifai was appointed acting Director of the Dasman Diabetes Institute. Under his leadership, the institute transitioned to a corporate structure, allowing greater flexibility in increasing revenue from grants and donations that are essential to sustaining its services and supporting research on diabetes and its serious health complications.
