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Mesaimeer Health Center (HC) is one of the more than 20 health centers operated by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in Qatar. Located in Abu Hamour, the center has 127,000 registered patients. Six percent of them are Qatari nationals. The center has various special units, including for vaccination, which is one of the most popular units in the country. Recently, the Health Center Manager Dr Leena Abdulla spoke to Qatar Tribune's Catherine W Gichuki about the multiple services being offered by the center. Excerpts:
Q) What are the services offered at Mesaimeer HC?
A) First of all, Mesaimeer HC has 127,000 registered patients, out of which six percent are Qatari nationals. Our working hours is Sunday to Thursday, non-stop, from 7am to 11pm, and on Fridays from 4pm to 11pm and on Saturdays from 7am to 2pm and 4pm to 11pm. We offer several services and the patients are treated either by appointment after calling '107', or in the form of walk-in and emergency cases. All the other cases are seen through the triage system.
There are also sub-specialty clinics such as antenatal, well-woman, non-communicable disease (chronic disease), smoking cessation, well baby, dental clinic, special school health section (which includes, psychologist, psychiatrist, pediatrician and a social worker), vaccination unit and social workers, ENT, ophthalmology, home care services for Qataris, medical commission for Qatari and GCC patients (for pre-employment or college), radiology, ultrasound section, pharmacy, dietician, maternal and child health counsellor, mental health screening, bowel and breast cancer screening.
Q) Mesaimeer HC's vaccination unit is one of the most popular in Qatar. Can you elaborate more on this unit?
A) This special unit has a 'travel' medicine clinic, Hajj and Umrah vaccination unit, pre-college registration services, urgent cases (for instance anti-rabies from animal bites) services, and special clinic for visitors' well baby.
If a person does not have a residency permit, we can give the travel vaccination from the health center. Vaccines are given to visitors (those without a resident permit) only in certain other cases such as animal bites. For contact cases, for instance chicken pox or measles, or in case of any infectious diseases the other family members will be vaccinated as well.
The center also administers vaccines to single male workers if the vaccines are not available at Al Wafideen Health Center. We receive between 600 and 800 patients per month during the normal period, but before the Hajj season the number can go up to 1,500 monthly. However, travel vaccines are available in other health centers too.
Q) Meisameer HC has a school health section and an oral health unit. What facilities do these units provide?
A) The school health section is for students aged between 5 and 18 years from private and public schools. Students with abnormal behaviours are referred to here by school nurses or from other health centers where these students are treated by a psychiatrist, social worker (to assist socially) and a psychologist who does the IQ test assessment. The most common referred cases from schools are learning disability or hyperactivity. The psychiatry clinic treats between 200 and 300 students a month.
Besides the psychiatrist clinic, the school health section also features the dental unit where schools book appointment for 40 to 50 students per day for gum and teeth checkups. If a student is registered at the health center then a case of follow-up also continues at the clinic. Each child is given a chart explaining the teeth related problems. Other than screening, lectures on oral health are given and the students are enlightened on how to brush and take care of their teeth.
Q) What were the services launched at the health center?
A) The health center recently launched a general clinic for Qatari patients. The patients can register appointments or walk-in without any appointments. The clinic was launched in November. It has helped Qataris to just walk-in or book appointment. We also launched the 'My Care billing' at the pharmacy since January, this year, and the patients don't have to visit a cashier first. They can pay for the drugs at the pharmacy.
Q) Any future plans for the Health Center?
A) The PHCC is encouraging more patient safety measures. There is a national plan on disaster planning and preparation. And we are working on conducting training and mock drills. We also conducted a mandatory training for all the staff to know how to deal with the waiting patients in case of an emergency or a calamity.
