Visitors to Doha’s Women’s Hospital will now be required to pay for all procedures and medicines by debit card, credit card or e-cash card only, Hamad Medical Corp. (HMC) has announced.

Many services and treatments at the hospital have already become cashless in an effort to save time for patients visiting the facility, a senior hospital official said.

Under the new system, patients who have appointments for consultations or ultrasounds will need to pay by card at the registration counter, instead of going to the cashier, as was previously the case.

The hospital pharmacy has also stopped taking cash payments, which HMC said would enable “patients to retrieve and pay for their prescriptions more efficiently.”

In a statement, Prof. Mike Richmond, acting chief executive of the Women’s Hospital, said:

“By eliminating a step in the payment process, we hope to save valuable time for the women and families visiting our facilities.

As our patients are familiar with paying in cash, we will implement this new system in a phased approach, which will give people the opportunity to adapt to the change.”

The e-cash card is available from Qatar National Bank (QNB) for QR20, and can be topped up and used to pay for government services.

The organization said it had already successfully tested out the no-cash system at its Bone and Joint center.

“We are looking forward to implementing this system across all of our facilities in the near future,” Richmond added.

Thoughts?