(MENAFN- Gulf Times) A total of five private healthcare operators will start functioning in Qatar very soon, HE the Minister of Public Health Abdulla bin Khalid al-Qahtani told Gulf Times.
"The Ministry of Economy and Commerce will soon announce the details of the procedure for identifying the operators for five private hospitals," he explained.
Answering a question from Gulf Times on the sidelines of the Annual Forum of the National Health Strategy ( NHS) 2011-2016 on Monday, HE al-Qahtani said that process has already started.
"In addition to finding new operators, we will also outsource some of the government facilities to the private sector. Some of the health centres under the Primary Health Care Corporation ( PHCC) will be outsourced to competent private operators."
"The private health sector organisations are equally important for us. We meet with the private sector operators on a regular basis. Private sector involvement is very vital for the success of the vision of the country as well as the realisation of NHS," he noted.
The minister also pointed out that the NHS will be a continuing process and when the present one is completed, the second phase will be launched in 2017.
As for the delay in implementing the national insurance scheme, Seha, for all sectors, the minister cited infrastructure completion as a cause.
"Only two more categories of people are to be included. They are GCC nationals residing in Qatar and other expatriates. We are waiting for the completion of the necessary infrastructure at every organisational level. However, the health card system that we follow in Qatar is one of the best in the world."
The minister also highlighted that several projects are in the final stages and will be completed very soon. "Ashghal has to give us the final date for delivery. We expect the diabetes centre to be ready soon. We also expect to get four major centres soon. In addition, six new health centres under PHCC will be opened this year."
Dr Hanan al-Kuwari, managing director of Hamad Medical Corporation ( HMC) said that HMC receives around 40 complaints on an average per month.
"We have a daily follow up team regarding the complaints from the patients and the public. Between 90 and 200 e-mails and 200 calls are received by the HMC every month regarding inquiries and complaints in three languages." Dr Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, managing director, PHCC also was present at the press conference.
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