Doha, Qatar: The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) is marking Customer Service Week 2026, an annual occasion that highlights the importance of customer service and its instrumental role in strengthening the patient experience and the quality of services provided to patients.
This year's celebration is being held under the official theme of "Go the Extra Mile", underscoring the importance of going beyond expectations, listening to customers' needs, and treating their feedback and inquiries as a key entry point for continuous improvement and development.
The Corporation has also adopted its own theme for the occasion, "Care Builds Trust and Leaves a Lasting Impact", affirming that caring for patients goes beyond providing services to include a warm welcome, a timely response, clear information, listening to opinions and feedback, and working to make the patient experience easier and more satisfying.
Customer service is at the heart of the primary health care system, playing an instrumental role in identifying patients' needs and expectations, as well as monitoring their comments, complaints and suggestions for further analysis and use in enhancing services and providing optimal health care.
Customer service statistics from PHCC showed that during the first half of 2026, it handled 3,163 complaints received through various communication channels.
Of those, 94% were closed within 25 business days, while 4% were closed after more than 25 business days and 2% remained unresolved.
The figures underscored the Corporation's substantial efforts to follow up on complaints and address them within established time frames, while continuing to strengthen responsiveness and feedback-handling mechanisms to ensure they contribute to enhancing service quality and the patient experience.
As for Leabaib, 149 complaints were received, with 84% closed within seven business days, while 16% were closed after more than seven business days.
In this regard, PHCC significantly prioritizes the comments and complaints it receives and acknowledges that this pool of information is a critical source for identifying optimization opportunities and remedying challenges, an approach that the Corporation has previously emphasized through mechanisms for receiving and documenting patients' comments and referring them to the appropriate authorities for further review and analysis.
Reciprocally, throughout the first six months, these comments were not confined to complaints but also comprised 66 cases of gratitude and appreciation, demonstrating the existence of positive experiences among patients in recognition of the tremendous efforts by medical staff across many workplaces.
These positive experiences literally constitute a crucial motivation for customer service and medical care staff to pursue this commitment, while simultaneously serving as an indication that can be utilized to identify positive experiences and bolster them among work teams.
PHCC emphasized that improving the patient experience is a shared responsibility that extends beyond customer service staff to everyone across the organization.
The experience begins when patients arrive at a health center and continues through every stage of care, including communication, follow-up and response to feedback.
The Corporation further noted that this approach is consistent with its ongoing efforts to make primary health care services easier to access. Its Hayyak helpline and Nar'aakom offices at health centers provide patients with support and help them access information and services, while PHCC continues to expand and improve its communication channels to make care more accessible.
Furthermore, PHCC stated that observing this week is an opportunity to reemphasize its commitment to listening, respect, empathy and timely responses, while reinforcing the role every employee plays in creating a positive patient experience.
Through its mantra, the Corporation is underscoring that trust is built through everyday interactions, starting with listening to patients and understanding their needs.
The occasion also provides an opportunity to recognize customer service staff and employees across PHCC's health centers and departments who engage directly with patients, respond to their questions and feedback, and help make their journey through the primary health care system easier.
Intriguingly, PHCC continues to work to improve the experience of its beneficiaries, making it a key focus in the development of its services and aligning with its strategic direction to boost the quality of health care, improve health outcomes and make services more accessible.
Against this backdrop, PHCC reemphasized that every piece of feedback it receives represents an opportunity to learn and improve, while every word of appreciation provides an incentive to keep moving forward.
Its overarching goal remains to provide patients with a health care experience that is easier, more humane and more effective, while reinforcing an institutional culture in which caring for patients is everyone's responsibility.
Executive Director of Corporate Communications Department at PHCC, Huda Mohsen Al Wahedi, said marking this week provides a critical opportunity to reiterate the Corporation's commitment to putting patients at the heart of its efforts and strengthening an institutional culture built on listening, care and prompt response.
This year's theme underscores that excellence in customer service does not stop at delivering a service but extends to understanding patients' needs and working to improve their experience at every stage, Al Wahedi underlined.
From this perspective, PHCC has adopted its own theme, reflecting the belief that genuine care builds bridges of trust and that every positive interaction leaves a lasting impact.
Head of the Hayak Service Department at PHCC, Dr. Adel Abu Ouda, highlighted the vital role played by these service teams in supporting patients and facilitating their access to the health services and information they need, making this week an opportunity to reaffirm that role.
Head of Customer Service at PHCC, Amina Al Balushi, emphasized that customer service is not merely a job or a channel of communication, but a culture and a daily practice that reflects PHCC's commitment to its patients and its determination to listen to their views and feedback.
She noted that marking this week is intended to encourage every single person to keep improving performance and provide patients with an easier and more satisfying experience, while recognizing that every piece of feedback carries real value because it helps identify opportunities for improvement and further develop services.
