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Post by godf1me on Apr 25, 2015 22:33:01 GMT
With this new housing policy, it looks like impacts are far more than being communicated by RA.
1- It appears if you are not living on Aramco compound, you may not have access to Aramco Medical Services. You may have to rely on outside medical facilities which may have agreements with aramco. Having a qualified doctor in the medical facility is one thing, but running a medical facility with all the (american / international standard) medical protocols is another thing which many don't follow due to complexities, but risks of getting more diseases from attending these non-compliance facilities could be worse than one can think of.
2- Living off-aramco-compound could be problematic/ unsecure. I heard religious police can raid other residences but not aramco camps.
3- Getting kids enrolled in other (good) schools is not only difficult due to no or very limited space, but getting the current school records attested from saudi embassy and MOFA for applying to these schools is also not not a smooth process.
Any one with experience in above? pls share with us. Thanks.
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Post by vpainter on Apr 28, 2015 14:21:07 GMT
Will answer for 1) even current Aramco employees and families go to King Saad Hospitals and Medical clinics when they cannot get into the Aramco facillities in a timely fashion. That includes my family. King Saad Hospital has excellent trained Drs including U.S. trained drs. We received excellent care and in our case, instant care. It was amazing how quickly they took care of us.
2). Unless you are doing illegal activities, you do not have to fear Hai'a raids.
3). Definitely a difficult problem.
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Post by sbenni1 on Apr 29, 2015 16:29:57 GMT
godf1me,
1) Some people choose to register with outside hospitals. Some are better than Aramco hospitals. Why do you think Aramco contracted with these hospitals in the first place? Because some have specialties that do not exist in Aramco hospitals or are better.
2) Like V said, are you planning on selling illegal drugs or Alcohol? In the US, the Feds can raid your house if you're planning on engaging in illegal activities. You will always "hear" things from people so be careful with such expert rumors.
3) You would have that challenge with any int'l assignment, even if you were based in Paris.
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Wutz
Senior Member
Posts: 143
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Post by Wutz on Apr 30, 2015 14:19:08 GMT
vpainter - I remember seeing stories in the newspaper here of family homes raided by the mutawa during Valentine's Day dinners. We are talking religious (i.e. moral) police - not municiple or federal. A lot of things that are illegal in Kingdom are not considered immoral in other cultures.
That being said, I don't think up to now that the mutawa have raided other expatriate compounds commonly if at all. If you're living in one of them and not doing anything blatantly illegal (especially that which is illegal everywhere else), you don't really have much to fear from the mutawa as an expat.
Wutz
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Post by lonestartexas on May 1, 2015 6:54:16 GMT
Wutz,
I am quite new here but have heard from many "old timers" that they prefer outside medical facilities due to speed of appointment and services. The JH on campus is getting really busy.
I have not experienced it yet but overall people's comments are if you are expecting the system to work like the UK or USA it's not there yet due to resources constraints. That is something I have to adjust to when my family is here.
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Wutz
Senior Member
Posts: 143
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Post by Wutz on May 1, 2015 7:07:16 GMT
lonestartexas -
(welcome to the KSA). My post was referring to the second point - that living outside an Aramco compound, your house or apartment could theoretically be raided by the religious police (mutawa). I thought that vpainter and others were trivializing the concern, and I wanted to make the point that it's not only blatantly illegal activities that could be at issue. In Kingdom, adult women are not supposed to socialize with non-related males. So in theory, if you had another family over for dinner in your house you could be subject to a mutawa raid. I've never heard of it happening to an expat family, but I most definitely have heard of it happening to Saudi families. It's not something that I would trivialize.
As to medical facilities outside Aramco, I too have heard old timers praise local hospital service. Not necessarily for the quality of service, rather for the timeliness and availability (especially dental). Quite a few people wait for their repeat trips back to their home country for non-emergency care. I myself have not used outside services yet (and not sure that I would). I've only been at Aramco 2 1/2 years, so not yet comfortable enough. Maybe in a few more years. I did need emergency services once (fell off a horse), and the emergency care at JH was excellent, as has been the followup checkups.
Wutz
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swan
Senior Member
Posts: 209
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Post by swan on May 3, 2015 20:29:29 GMT
It's my husband with the job offer. My understanding is the medical insurance is still available, but you would use facilities elsewhere in the Kingdom. Is that correct?
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Post by kiterunner88 on Jul 8, 2015 4:19:14 GMT
This topic perked up my interest. I am currently going through a job offer to be based in Dhahran. Can anyone tell me if Aramco adopts a single parent policy? Can a single parent like me get family privileges for my only daughter? Would I be able to bring her to KSA when I join EPD?
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