DOHA: Seventy-three new private healthcare facilities are in the pipeline, with a 46 per cent growth in licensed private facilities last year compared to the previous year, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has disclosed.
The SCH will be hosting an event for the healthcare community on June 1 to mark the completion of four years of the National Health Strategy 2011-2016 (NHS). It will take place at Gassar Resort, under the theme ‘Together for Integrated Care.’
The annual event aims to build greater understanding and support for the wide ranging transformation in health services currently being delivered, SCH said in a statement yesterday.
Qatar has continued to have one of the world’s highest population growth rates. To meet this challenge there has been a 16 percent increase in health workforce during 2014, with the public sector now employing over 30,000 healthcare professionals.
Public sector healthcare spending in 2013/14 was QR12.69 m, an increase of 28 percent on the previous year.
The NHS has also grown in response to these challenges. In 2015 the NHS comprises 35 projects. Six projects have been completed and closed. Two new projects have been added; Diabetes and Oral Health, and the National Cancer Programme has been brought within the scope of NHS implementation.
Overall great progress has been made with an average of 61 percent of outputs complete across all projects. Maintaining the momentum of delivery of NHS outputs will become increasingly challenging as the programme moves into its final phase, said the SCH.
The theme for this year’s event: ‘‘Together for Integrated Care’, reflects the importance of ensuring that the focus remains on integrating services to deliver a high quality health system.
The Minister of Public Health, H E Abdulla bin Khalid Al Qahtani, will be speaking on the vision for Qatar’s health sector, and this year he will be followed by international speakers from New Zealand who will present their experience of developing local, integrated clinical partnerships to support growing healthcare demands, particularly those of patients with long term conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
The presentations will be followed by an open panel discussion on the challenges and achievements of developing a modern integrated health system for Qatar. This is expected to cover topics such as the National Cancer Program, Seha, primary care, the new E-Health initiative, quality, and continuing professional education.
The NHS is a partnership of SCH, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC) working in collaboration with more than 50 organisations.
The Peninsula
