Medical Check in Qatar

This morning we went to the Hospital to have the mandatory medical check by the Qatar Medical Commission which is a requirement for an expatriate to be able to get a residence permit (RP) in Qatar. Your entry visa will be converted to the work visa after going through the process. There are 2 ways to go about the medical check...you can pass through the 1st entrance which is for VIPS such as managers, foreigners, etc...or in the other entrance which is for ordinary workers...dito pa lang may segregation na talaga...anyway...our filipino secretary who went together with me was able to enter through the 1st entrance while I was shooed away because my entry visa was as a machine operator kahit na manager ako because that position was used only for visa entry...so I was lump with the workers all coming from various parts of south asia and the world...and during that time I also went together with some of the indian workers our our company...our indian driver nasser did a little manuevering so that I could be exempted from the long queing in the worker's entrance....may paraan din pala dito pareho din sa atin...i'm sure some "padulas" was made so that i could enter without queing...so I had entered the large waiting area...there were many Qataris who acted like minders or line men...they guide the large number of people along the process and of course...in the middle east fashion the ladies were separated from the men...ang daming lahi doon, I was with indians, sri lankans, palestinians, lebanese, turks, jordanians, syrians, sudanese, africans, nepalis, bengalis, chinese, americans, europeans, pakistanis, pashtuns, afghans, and of course the Filipinos... and so many more I could not recall...it was quite a rowdy lot but i just went trough the process as nonchalantly as I could...I tried not to attract anything to myself...trying to be incognito...we were first ushered in the registration process wherein we have to pay 100 QAR for the medical check...there is a window counter that you have to line up to and a digicam that would take your picture upon the payment...you need to present your passport and a photocopy of your Qatari visa... I could see that the window booths were manned by Arab Women in Chadors wherein you could only see their eyes or their faces...I tried not to be rude by staring at them because they are truly an exotic beauty to a Filipino...so off I went to the blood capture reception wherein you will receive a vial with a sticker provided by the medical staff (arab) and dircted to the blood drawing med tech...who was again an arab lady...so in the process of queing my blood was taken...and off to the x-ray section I go but the whole process was really confusing...I observed that there were many people inserting in the ques...there were people who would at any given chance overtake you...ang ba bastos pa ng iba...hindi lang talaga sa Pinas and merong ganito sa lahat ng parte ng mundo meron siguro but as I have observed we are more civil than these people in a sense at lease ang palusot system sa atin hindi obvious ...while dito harap harapan...there are still good people though...the indians i met are quite good...may isa pa nga I told him that i will just go to the bathroom binantayan niya ang place ko sa line...pero may mga bastos talaga at agawan as if there are still places the they need to go or things to do...I could also see Qataris escorting other people in overtaking ques...obvious na tumatangap sigurado ng lagay just to be ahead of others...anyway...Natapos din ako sa x-ray and to my surprise the radiologist was a Pinoy...Sabi niya agad sa akin 'Kabayan Hinga ng malamin" click agad ang xray...Tapos na po? Tapos na Pare...and I said Salamat Kabayan"...pagkatapos noon..we all left the hospital pumunta sa isang medical polyclinic para magpa blood test...and lo and behold mga Pilipina!!! Kabayan...again...and the usual pleasanties...Galing talaga ng mga Pinoy...Hay! Naku!!!Na memiss ko natuloy ang Pinas....natapos din...pero may finger printing pa pala ...that will be another blog entry for me...