(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) recently released Annual Report 2014/2015 indicates that the establishment of Al Wakrah Hospital (AWH) has significantly reduced the pressure on HMC's main facility, Hamad eneral Hospital (HGH), especially its emergency department.
Emergency visits have seen an overall increase of 22.1 percent in 2014 compared to 2013 when all HMC facilities are taken into account. Paediatric emergency units at HMC recorded an increase of 6.9 percent in the number of visitors during the same period, says the report.
Over 1.04 million people visited the emergency units at HMC hospitals in 2014, against 855,025 visits in 2013. Visitors to Pediatric emergency sections increased from 519,619 in 2013 to 555,460 in 2014.
The highest increase was recorded at AWH at 77.1 percent against 4.9 percent at the emergency unit at HGH, one of the lowest among all the hospitals. This indicates that the AWH emergency unit has a taken a significant portion of the burden from the HGH facility. The number of visitors to the HGH emergency unit increased from 442,693 in 2013 to 464,601in 2014 while the AWH facility saw a rapid increase from 170,667 to 302,325 over the period.
The number of outpatient visits at AWH has also seen a sharp rise by 54.9 percent against 14.3 percent increase at HGH outpatient facilities.
Emergency visits at Al Khor Hospital increased by 15.2 percent and outpatient visits by 11.3 percent while Cuban Hospital in Dukhan recorded an increase of 57.2 percent and 45 percent, respectively.
Women's Hospital recorded 4.1 percent increase in emergency visits and 3.4 percent increase in outpatient visits.
Child births increased by an overall 5.1 percent, with a decline of 4.6 percent at the Women's Hospital located at HGH premises.
The highest increase was at Cuban Hospital from 125 to 251 (100.8 percent), followed by 78.2 percent at AWH ( from 2050 to 3653) and 7.3 percent at Al Khor Hospital (from 1106 to 1187).
Despite a decline in numbers, apparently due to the opening of other facilities, Women's Hospital attended to the highest number of births- 16,269 in 2014 against 17,051 in 2013.
Total births at all HMC facilities increased from 20,332 to 21,332 during the period.
Hanan Al Kuwari, Managing Director, HMC, identified some of the key areas in which significant progress has been made. "In the past year we have continued to build on our recent innovation and progress in line with our three pillars of health, education and research. We have introduced many new services and facilities as we expand to meet the increasing demands of Qatar's growing population. We have opened new specialist clinics and services providing care tailored to the specific needs of different population groups, including diabetes, cancer and long-term care," she said.
HMC's key achievements and developments in 2014 include: The opening of new facilities, including the expanded Enaya Specialized Care Center, Internal Medicine Clinic, Palliative and Supportive Care Unit and Stroke Ward.
Hospitals and services across HMC received international accreditation from leading organizations. HMC's three newest hospitals, Heart, Al Wakra and the Cuban, joined the other five hospitals in being accredited by the Joint Commission International, while HMC's stroke service also earned this prestigious accreditation.
Significant progress has been made by HMC in developing as an academic health system. Teaching and research have been integrated with clinical practice to deliver the highest standard of care, with examples of this now evident.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.