Abu Dhabi: Long waits for medical tests at the Disease Prevention and Screening centre in Abu Dhabi have left residents seething.
In order to avoid delays people have been queuing up here well before sunrise.
“I came here at 5am to get an early token. By 6.30am there was a huge crowd. When the gates opened at 7am people just rushed past me,” rued Pakistani worker Iqbal Mohammad.
He said he had to wait for an hour and a half for his turn.
Expatriates must undergo medical screening that involves a blood test and X-ray to obtain or renew their residence visas.
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There is only one centre for Disease Prevention and Screening in the city. The other three are in the Eastern Region (Al Ain), the Western Region and the Central Region of Mussafah. All centres come under the Ambulatory Healthcare Services (AHS).
A regular visa screening costs Dh250 and results are available within 48 hours. Fast Track and Premium services are available for Dh350 and Dh500.
Those who use the regular service are most affected as there are often long queues both at the token counter and outside the room where blood samples and X-rays are taken.
When XPRESS visited the centre on Hazza Bin Zayed Street at 7am on Monday, the queue for tokens had stretched into the compound.
“I have been here since 6.30am yet my token number is 156. I don’t know how long it will take before I can complete the procedure,” said Sharafuddhin, a middle-aged Indian expat who works in the construction sector.
Another Indian resident, who refused to give his name, said his token number was 210 although he had been standing in the queue since 6.50am.
“There is a long wait for tokens. After getting the tokens, we have to endure further delays everywhere,” complained Josephine Alex, a Filipino resident.
Palestinian expat Ahmad Nabeel said it was the third time he was queuing up for tokens in the last two weeks. “The last couple of times the queues were so long I went back. I cannot take time off from work. This is really frustrating. Not everybody can afford the special VIP service,” said Nabeel who works for a typing centre.
Though the centre is open from 7am to 7pm Sunday to Thursday, and from 9am to 5pm on Saturday, tokens are available only till 2pm.
Seeking an appointment for late afternoon and evening is also of no use.
“When I went for my medical tests at 10am, I was given a token that said my appointment time was 4.30pm. When I came back at that time, there were at least two dozen people already in the line for blood tests,” said Indian civil engineer Sudheer Menon.
There were similar queues at the ladies counter. “It is so exasperating. I wish they could open another centre to ease the rush,” said an Egyptian woman.
A comment from the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (HAAD) was not immediately available.
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