Amal Sawires, M.D.

This review is NOT for Dr. Amel Sawires. We respect Dr. Sawires as a physician and her passion for the hard work she provides for each of her patiences. She’s not only well established but comes with vast knowledge, also caring with compassion.
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about her staff at the front desk.
They are bunch of unalert, pretentious and unprofessional morons!
My husband and I are new patients establishing care with Dr. Sawires. And at our first appointment, the front desk couldn’t find my appointment and I was told they don’t have me in their system and almost rescheduled my appointment. It appeared they had me under a different name completely. I brushed it off and pardoned this mistake.
After several appointments with Dr. Sawires, I recommended Dr. Sawires to my mother. On the day of my mother’s appointment, again the front desk couldn’t find her name but checked my mother in anyway sending us in the patient room. From the patient room, the nurse asked us to leave and to have the front desk sort out this appointment because our appointment was given to someone else.
After returning back to the front desk, we were told we didn’t have the appointment and that we were to reschedule. We were never ever notified about the cancellation and the receptionist made it seem like it was our fault for not getting the cancellation message. Really!!!
First, the receptionist claimed the message was left on the voicemail then she’s claiming they couldn’t get through any of the voicemail. Hmmm???
We wouldn’t just show up for fun and demand to get an appointment on the same day. It doesn’t work that way and any person with a brain knows that. Also, my mother wouldn’t drive in the traffic for fun of it only to have her time wasted. And I didn’t had to leave to bring my mother in when one of my family members is between passing of life and death. That’s a valuable time lost.
To make the matter even worse, one of the nurses comes out to patch the situation up and to send us on our merry way. She appeared not interested and insincere. At one point she suggested I should take my mother to urgent care. I can’t believe we were literally having this conversation with the nurse. Personally, I hate when people say sorry when they don’t mean it. It was between a circus and a big joke how things were handled by the front desk and the nurse.
They don’t have any knowledge how to handle a problem or solution to a problem but instead toss everything around and see where it all ends up.
So, to sum it up, Dr. Sawires is a great physician but the team who is supposed to represent her and other doctors who work at this facility (Sutter Health Foundation) will only drive clients away. My mother has to wait for another three weeks to see Dr. Sawires.
You will have to be your own receptionist, by confirming your own appointments few days before, otherwise be prepared to wait for weeks to get a new appointment.

First to second visits completely different.

I was referred to Dr. Sawires by my Endocrinologist when I mentioned I needed a new Primary Care Physician. All of the other reviews (with the exception of the one from Dana L.) are spot on; she is dedicated to her profession, is extremely knowledgeable and personable, spends the time needed to complete the session and overall is a great communicator. She makes me feel good about seeing a doctor!
I see her from what I gather is her new practice at Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation (which is a pretty great medical group to begin with).
I’ve seen her a couple of times now; she tracks what my Endocrinologist has to say and has prescribed, so she KNOWS my other medications and she understands why I am taking them and what my Endocrinologist’s treatment plan is for me. She’s also forceful in seeing that I lose weight and become healthier. I hope she likes this practice — if she left I would probably follow her to her new practice!
She’s a rock star.

Yes, Unilocal has it accurate, five stars equals «…as good as it gets». Dr. Sawires is absolutely the best doctor I’ve ever had. I’m rather critical since, I too am in the healthcare industry. Given my background, I know the pressure that primary care physicians face in today’s healthcare environment and Dr. Sawires juggles them wonderfully. She listens to her patients, shows real compassion in difficult times, her follow through is impeccable both via phone and online messaging. From a prevention aspect, which many payers would appreciate, she is tops. She focuses on prevention activities/​methodologies to ensure the patient’s whole life (mental, spiritual, and physical) is in order. Sadly she is no longer with Sutter East Bay thus no longer my primary care physician. Sutter will have a difficult time replacing her. What are real loss for their practice. If she is still in the area, I will consider following despite the distance. Yes, she’s that good!

The best doctor I’ve ever known. The only unfortunate thing is that Dr. Sawires is leaving the Berkeley practice, and may end up leaving California. If she stayed in the East Bay, or even in San Francisco, we’d follow her. She IS that good.
She cares about the person, their family, listens, is accessible (yes, she gives out her personal cell and it’s best to reach her «live» rather than via a phone message). She’s aware of different cultures (think she’s from Egypt). And, she has a wealth of medical knowledge and used be in the medical academia.
My parents are Russian, and don’t speak English fluently, so they used to go to a Russian doctor whose only virtue was that she spoke Russian as well. My father had a stroke, and his neurologist said that he needs to have an internal medicine doctor from her medical group. She recommended Dr. Sawires.
My parents say that she understands them better and they have a better rapport with her than with any Russian doctor. And that’s my parents who are super critical of everyone!
We are all very sad that she’s leaving. Hope she’s happy with whatever she does next…

I love this woman. She is the best doctor I’ve ever had, and insures I am not terrified to go in for check ups and other doctor’s appts which in nature may be unpleasant. She always answers my emails within a day or two – sometimes only an hr or so after I’ve emailed her! Her front office seems to be a roomful of disorganized idiots, so it is best to try to deal as directly with Dr. Sawires as possible. I had a blood test go horribly wrong and she came in and dealt with the incompetent people who ran the blood office. She gave me her own lunch because I was going to pass out.
Five stars, despite the administrative people/​secretaries/​assistants. And despite the fact that she is in Berkeley and I’m in SF.

Best Doctor Ever. Because of some complex and serious health issues, I see her at least 12 times a year. She never talks down to me, appreciates and encourages my research and efforts to understand my condition, and spends a very generous amount of time with me when I see her. She really did give me her private cell phone once because of an emergency situation. I never had to use it (and hopefully never will!), but it’s profoundly comforting to know that she would make herself so available to me. I strongly urge you NOT to choose her as your Doctor because I want her all to myself!
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She’s simply the best. she listens and cares.

There is no better doctor than Dr. Sawires in the world!!! If I could clone this woman and give her to every sick person the world would be a much better place. She is knowledgeable, kind, caring, compassionate and loving. she cares what hurts mentally and phsically… she wants to help and takes her job seriously… my job switched to Kaiser but if I EVER get the chance to go back I would in a heart beat… its been 3 years now since i’ve last seen her and im still singing her praise! she is the best hands down and i adore her!!!
I MISS U DR SAWIRES!!! Pam Randall

Dr. S is AWESOME!!!
She is very kind, Professional, and KNOWS what she is doing. and she has a such a great personality.
She is one of the few and I say few because it’s true doctors out there that does HOME VISITS. YES she does HOME VISITS. She is very dedicated to her patients, and her profession.
And yes, she gives out her personal e-​mail address, and some people may say it is difficult to reach her, through it, but that is because she does have other patients. Can you imagine her inbox?
she very open, and like I said very personable. She explains everything, and has no sense of arrogance in her.
Love Dr. Sawires.

Dr. Sawires is knowledgeable, open, communicative, and personable. I appreciate that she is open to alternative medicine and shares information about the latest medical evidence pertinent to me. I leave her office feeling I have a much better understanding of my health, which is important to me.

Dr. Sawire is great! She can be hard to get in touch with via email, but when I have called and left a message with her office, she has called me back within a day.
Recently I got the flu, and needed a sick letter for a flight, and her office was kind enough to fax it to the airlines for me.
Also, this office is small and easy to access and park – no confusing directories or multiple floors.

If I were writing this review on the day that I saw Dr. Sawires for the first time, it would be completely opposite. She was awesome. She took plenty of time (in fact, the phone rang twice while she was in the exam room with me… it was actually someone calling to tell her to hurry up, which I thought was a bit odd and annoying at the time but blew it off) and she seemed exceptionally caring and professional.
And then… I needed her to help me through a painful hip issue and despite the 8 calls to her office and emails sent to the email address she gave me, I’ve still never heard back from her. It’s been three weeks and nothing. No referral to another doctor. No calling in pain medication so I might be able to sleep at night. No apparent regard for the fact that I can barely walk, let alone chase after my 20-​month-​old son.
I suspect that some of the issue may be the way her office is run, which doesn’t speak well for Sutter Health but that doesn’t excuse the fact that she hasn’t called me back. Obviously, I am extremely annoyed that I either have to start the lengthy process of finding a new doctor or go sit in an emergency room in Oakland. Somehow I don’t think my bum hip is going to take precedence over the GSWs they see there.