The minister also noted that despite COVID-19 and the FIFA World Cup making the past three years the most challenging period for healthcare staff in recent memory, Qatar’s dedicated healthcare teams have made enormous progress away from these two areas of work to continue to improve the quality of care delivered across the health system.
The minister highlighted several of the health sector’s key achievements since 2020, including Opening Aisha Bint Hamad Al Attiyah Hospital the second largest HMC hospital in terms of size and capacity further strengthening the public sector hospital network; Opening 6 new state-of-the-art health and wellness centres, taking the total number of Primary Health Care Corporation health centres to 31 and improving care provision in the community; Achieving World Health Organization “Healthy City” status for all eight municipalities, becoming the first country in the world to achieve this status for all its municipalities, in addition to similar awards for Qatar University and Education City; Designation for HMC’s Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care as WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Ageing and Dementia, in addition to Collaborating Centre agreements for the WHO Collaborating Centre for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis with Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Treating Tobacco Dependence with the HMC’s Tobacco Control Centre; Implementing a range of telemedicine and virtual services across the public health sector, including the National Mental Health Helpline, making access to care more convenient than ever before; Gaining Planetree International Certification for Excellence in Person-Centred Care at 5 HMC facilities, formally recognizing the highest levels of achievement in person-centred care; Having 4 HMC hospitals and Sidra Medicine ranked among the world’s top 250 academic medical centres, highlighting the health sector’s commitment to combining patient care, medical research and education to achieve the best outcomes and experience for patients.
“Yet despite these incredible achievements, we are committed to constantly moving forward,” Dr Al Kuwari said.
“Throughout 2023, we will focus our efforts on implementing the new National Insurance Programme; providing fast access to care for patients; and ensuring Qatar’s healthcare system continues to be a regional leader for quality and safety in healthcare, delivering services on par with the world’s best health systems.”
This year’s forum will focus on Healthcare Resilience in Extraordinary Times with five learning tracks for attendees: Improvement Science; Person-Centred Care; Flow, Safety and Value Improvement; Leadership, Resilience and Sustainability; Population Health.
