(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: The Tertiary Hospital Group of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) will play a major role in the opening of new healthcare facilities over next 18 months in the country, said a senior official.
HMC is about to embark its expansion programme which will see open five new major hospitals, creating hundreds of new hospital beds by the end of December 2017.
“The new Communicable Disease Center, Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, Women’s Wellness and Research Center, Ambulatory Care Center and the Doha Industrial Area Hospital will advance our ability to deliver specialist care services in a timely and effective manner,” Dr Yousuf Al Maslamani Medical Director at Hamad General Hospital told The Peninsula.
“The Tertiary Hospital Group will have a large role to play in the opening of these facilities. The new Women’s Wellness and Research Center will be a tertiary care provider and specialist hub for women’s health services with capacity for up to 15,000 births per year,” he added.
The Tertiary Hospitals deliver a comprehensive range of acute services, including treating patients with emergency and specialist care needs. HMC manages four tertiary hospitals - HGH, Women’s Hospital, Heart Hospital and the National Center for Cancer Care and Research. These hospitals provide specialist healthcare services for patients – services which cannot be performed at General Hospitals or by Primary Health Centers.
HGH, the largest and busiest of HMC’s hospitals, delivers a wide range of specialist care including pediatrics, surgical services and stroke, as well as managing Qatar’s largest emergency department and only trauma center.
“HGH as with all the Tertiary Hospitals, has seen a constant increase in activity in recent years as it meets the rising demand from Qatar’s growing population. As HMC delivers around 90 percent of secondary and acute services in Qatar, the increasing population over the past two or three decades has meant that these hospitals care for a growing number of patients each year,” said Dr Al Maslamani.
“The only Tertiary Hospital to see a reduction in patient numbers and activity is Women’s Hospital. This is as a result of the growth of the maternity services in HMC’s General Hospitals in Al Wakra, Dukhan and Al Khor. By focusing on expanding maternity services at these hospitals outside Doha, HMC has given patients greater choice as to where to access their care and at the same time reduce pressure on the busy Women’s Hospital,” he added.
Tertiary Hospitals have introduced many new services such as the region’s first CyberKnife Suite, located at the National Center for Cancer Care and Research, now provides revolutionary treatment technology for cancer, while the Heart Hospital’s new Advanced Heart Failure Clinic enables patients with this condition to receive the care they need in a customized facility.
“Our paediatric care services have been boosted by the expansion of existing facilities and the establishment of new services delivered at the Tertiary Hospitals. Several of our existing clinics have been expanded, including the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Women’s Hospital and the Paediatric Emergency Center Al Sadd, run by HGH,” said Dr Al Maslamani.The Peninsula