Healthcare in Qatar

According to the WHO, Qatar’s per capita expenditure on healthcare is one of the highest in the Middle East. A network of state-of-the-art general and specialist hospitals and extensive primary healthcare facilities has evolved in both the public and private sectors, staffed by international medical professionals. The latest diagnostic equipment is available and highly skilled specialists have perfected treatments and surgical procedures – including transplants – that make Qatar a leading healthcare provider in the region and a potential destination for medical tourism.

The Latest Developments

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has launched a website for Qatar Health 2010. Qatar’s annual medical and healthcare congress and exhibition will be held at the Doha International Exhibition Centre from December 10th – 15th. Delegates from more than 20 countries will participate, and more than 100 companies will be presenting the latest healthcare technology. Early registrations can be completed online, at www.qatarhealth.info.

For the first time, Qatar Health will host the International Confederation for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (IPRAS) Conference. It will also include a public seminar on issues such as anti-aging treatments and cosmetic surgery.
In early June, HMC opened a new Skilled Nursing Facility in Hamad Medical City. Under the management of Rumaila Hospital, it will be complementary to HMC’s hospital and Home.

Healthcare Services and provide 24-hour care to those who can no longer care for themselves due to physical, emotional, or mental conditions. It is the first and so far only such facility in the Middle East and has been developed on the basis of the internationally recognised JCI Care Continuum standards.

New equipment is to be introduced in HMC’s Radiology Department this year, including three new MRI machines and a state-of-the-art PET-CT (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner which is particularly helpful in very early detection of cancer, cancer spread (metastasis), and the diagnosis of cardiac problems.

HMC’s new paperless Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) has been finalised and is scheduled to link the Radiology departments of all HMC hospitals by the end of November.

The £9 million Virgin Health Bank Qatar Science and Technology Park (VHB QSTP) is now offering parents the opportunity to store umbilical stem cells from their newborns for up to 20 years. The service was officially launched at the Women’s Hospital on June 13th and an agreement between VHB and Al Ahli hospital is also in place. A cryogenic storage facility at QSTP is to be ready by October; until then processing and storage will be in the UK.

The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) was scheduled to open a National Influenza Centre (NIC) by the end of June. It will assist in developing efficient national influenza control strategies and campaigns for new viruses.