The Outpatient department Hamad General Hospital is getting a new appointment system as of March 4.

This means that appointments with specialists doctors at the government-run facility will only be at fixed times, and only through a referral from either primary healthcare or the emergency department. Walk-ups will no longer be accepted.

After a doctor make a referral, patients will have to schedule their appointments with the HMC Patient Contact Centre via phone. And if you miss your appointment, you’ll need to call them back and arrange a new one.

Initially, this is only being implemented for Urology, but the Outpatient Department’s other clinic plan to implement the system before summer.

So, it’s basically going to be a more structured approach to seeing specialists. What do you think? Will this improve getting an appointment and reduce delays, or just make it harder to see a doctor?