Qatar residents seeking driver’s licenses may soon face a battery of mental and physical health tests before they’re allowed on the roads, local media reports.

In an effort to reduce road accidents, Hamad Medical Corp. is proposing that residents undergo screenings for various ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure, epilepsy and psychological disorders, Dr. Wafa Al Yazeedi, acting chairperson of HMC’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, said at a recent traffic and safety symposium.

She added that the proposal was close to being implemented.

The Peninsula reports:

HMC experts stress that rehabilitation is expensive, with $5,000 for each patient per day. Some of the devices used to stimulate nerves can cost $11,000; however, all these services are given free of cost to all here.

In 2011 alone, there were 178 brain and 82 spinal cord injuries. Out of these, 80 brain and 70 spinal cord injury cases had to undergo rehabilitation.

Clearly, the way people drive in Qatar is a big problem.

But is requiring medical testing to get a driver’s license, in addition to the already mandatory driving classes, the right solution? 

Thoughts?