CHAIRMAN: DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: DR. KHALID MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

Qatar

Qatar’s healthcare system expanded considerably: Report

Published: 12 Dec 2017 - 10:59 am | Last Updated: 03 Nov 2021 - 09:27 pm
File picture of HMC's Ambulatory Care Center.

File picture of HMC's Ambulatory Care Center.

The Peninsula

The capacity of the health care system has expanded considerably in 2017, with the opening of new services and facilities, said a report released by the Ministry of Public Health yesterday.

The report “Ministry of Public Health’s important achievements and ambitious strategies for integrated and high quality health care” also highlighted that the health care quality has further improved by the new services and facilities.

It gave comprehensive details about health care facilities and services begun in 2017 and scheduled to open in 2018. The ministry is going to launch soon the National Strategy for Health 2017-2022, in preparation to it the ministry has conducted national survey to assess needs and to get feedback from the public on health care.

The report highlighted the opening of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) four new hospitals — the Communicable Disease Center, Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, the Women’s Wellness and Research Center (WWRC) and the Day Care Center. 

Also HMC opened new specialised services and facilities, including the Breast Cancer Screening Clinic and the National Obesity Treatment Center in 2017. 

The special engineering office has also submitted to HMC in cooperation with Ministry of Public Health the project of hospital and health center in Ras Laffan city with capacity of 118 beds. 

Meanwhile, since the opening of its first clinic in May 2016, Sidra Medicine has also been expanding its chain of clinics and is now preparing to receive inpatients in early 2018, enhancing the capacity and the ability to provide advanced care for women and children.

In 2015-2017, the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) opened six new health centers including wellness centers and is preparing to open four more health centers in 2018.

Also more efforts have been made to focus on health promotion and disease prevention services in 2017. As part of Qatar’s National Cancer Program, PHCC is making breast and bowel screening available throughout the country. 

“Screen For Life”, Qatar’s National Breast and Bowel Cancer Screening Program, led by the PHCC has created considerable number of screenings and awareness programs. 

The report further says that the Ministry of Public Health aims to enhance Qatar’s health system through a number of new strategies in the coming years, as it did in the past.

This year, the Ministry of Public Health launched the National Cancer Framework 2017-2022 and the National Autism Plan 2017-2021, in addition to Qatar Public Health Strategy 2017-2022 which was announced as part of a national survey to engage the public, and built on the achievements of the National Health Strategy 2011-2016.

The ministry has also launched a number of national strategies on autism 2017-2021, national strategy on cancer 2017-2022, mental health strategy for 2017-2022 and national strategy for diabetes 2016-2022.

The report mentions that the number of pharmaceutical companies registered in 2017 has reached 51 companies, 196 Pharmaceutical drugs and some 454 medicine have been subjected to minor changes.