@Paul. Yes.
However, there used to be (and no doubt remains) an "alternative healthcare market" in the Middle East (and indeed, many other parts of the world).
Myself and a few of my (then) colleagues found a ready market for Engineering Design (and On-Site Supervision) Services amongst, shall we say, the smaller segments of private healthcare.
As you will no doubt recall, almost every village, and certainly every desert town (not to mention cities) had a private clinic, or small private hospital.
The old Sheikhs (usually) who owned those places were not too keen on spending Big Bucks (
riyals) on fancy "professionals" (Consulting Engineers and Architects) but were generally happy with the work
we did for them.
As with the tech support of equipment in some parts of the world, there is sometimes a need for a "charitable"* approach, as it is often the case that only government funded hospitals (
etc.) can afford "professional" (read as:- expensive) assistance.
I believe that there may be a way forward these days by providing cost-effective engineering design services over the internet. In fact (and as Spicer has just indicated), as long as clients have internet access, there is a great deal they can do for themselves!
Before I left Riyadh in 2004 (and having donated all my New Hospital Projects library to my mates at the office) I broached the subject of continuing my involvement from elsewhere. That this, remotely, in the UK (or Cyprus ... wherever). Although the internet was "new" to the Kingdom at the time, once I had had a go (at the first - and at that time only - internet café in Al-Hasa) I realised the possibility of reviewing documents, listings, drawings and all the rest, remotely from anywhere with internet access. Unfortunately, my ideas were a bit too "advanced" for my bosses at that time ... but there you go.
Anyway, let's hear from Munir.
*
Or shall we say "down-market"? But I prefer the words "innovative" and "imaginative"!
