LANI ROSE R DIZON

DOHA QATAR’s first neuroscience institute is on the anvil and may be up and running in a year’s time, officials involved in the process said on Tuesday.

The proposed institute will be a partnership between the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q), they added.

A steering committee to establish the modular components within the planned neuroscience institute, has already been set up, said WCMC-Q Dean Dr Javaid Sheikh on Wednesday.

“We are working on a comprehensive plan. We are going to be recruiting for a world class director for the programme. And then it will be going hopefully within the next year,” he said when asked about the time the institute would take to come up.

Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the annual Medical Education Day Sheikh said that the opening of the new institute in Doha will significantly improve the care for patients with neurological problems in the country.

The centre will focus on epilepsy and will have a special programme on mood disorders and psychosis, a specialised programme on trauma and stroke, including motor vehicular accident, as well as a foot programme within neuroscience. Stem cell research in neuroscience will be another focus area.

“The HMC Managing Director Dr Hanan al Kuwari and I have been asked by the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) to establish a neuroscience institute which will be a partnership between the HMC and the WCMC-Q. The institute will directly impact the local community by improving the care of patients. It will also improve the training and research of the candidates who want to get better by learning special neuroscience skills”, he said.

Earlier during the ceremony, Sheikh reiterated that Qatar is in a renaissance of high education and science in the region and highlighted the Qatar National Vision 2030.

“What we are doing here as partners is contributing in our own way to transforming the country’s healthcare into an Academic Health System (AHS). The AHS initiatives we bring together demonstrate in the region what a true bonafide AHS is,” he added.

The AHS initiative was launched in Qatar last year.

The initiative brings HMC and its partners into a consortium that supports the health-related education and research strategy of the country.

It integrates education, research, and clinical care as it seeks to be a leading healthcare partnership in the region, and achieve regional and international recognition.