DOHA: Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, witnessed on Saturday the opening ceremony of the 10th Middle East Forum for Quality and Safety in Healthcare at the Qatar National Convention Center. The forum is the largest of its kind in the region.
The forum is being held as part of a collaboration between Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in the United States. It is the largest event dedicated to improving healthcare quality in the region.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the forum, Minister of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari praised the positive and transformative effect the Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare has had on Qatar's healthcare landscape.
She said, "Our partnership with the IHI was established in 2013 and born out of the aspirations of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the first National Development Strategy (2011-2016) set by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the guiding principles of Qatar's first National Health Strategy (2011-2016) developed and launched by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, in her capacity as chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Council of Health and Vice Chairperson of the Supreme Committee of Health at that time."
"Allow me here to, on behalf of all the health sector, express our deep gratitude and appreciation to HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser for her vision and leadership in shaping the fields of health, education and research in Qatar."
She said, "Today we celebrate a decade of an inspiring, innovative and transformative collaboration between Hamad Medical Corporation and the Institute for Health Care Improvement (Boston) that has transcended borders and systems and that has connected thousands of healthcare leaders and practitioners from across the world with the singular aim of improving quality and safety for our patients and our healthcare workers.
"Today we celebrate our commitment to excellence and our wonderful journey which has led Qatar to being recognized as a global benchmark for excellence and innovation. But more importantly today we re-affirm our unwavering ambition to deliver the best care possible for every patient, every time."
She added: "Today we imagine together a future world where patient quality and safety always comes first and where the triple aim of better care, better health, and better cost are in balance resulting in healthier populations and a health workforce which works with joy."
She explained that during the past 10 years of the Middle East Forum, Qatar's healthcare system has undergone a remarkable transformation journey.
"When most countries are used to steady growth we have witnessed a phenomenal expansion in the health sector to match our population's needs and our country's ambitions and plans. Our public and private sector beds have nearly doubled, and we have seen the addition of Sidra Medicine in 2016 and the Military Medical City Hospital in 2024. Our Primary Health Care Corporation opened 13 new state-of-the-art health and wellness centres, significantly improving primary care provision in the community. In 2023, Qatar had five hospitals ranked among the top 250 academic medical centers in the world with two achieving top 100 ranking highlighting our commitment to combining patient care, medical research, and health education to achieve the best outcomes and experiences for our patients."
Commenting on the health sector's COVID-19 efforts, the minister said: "During COVID-19 our whole of government approach, the strength and resilience of our health systems and our wonderful healthcare workers ensured that we had one of the lowest case fatality rates in the world and had close to zero hospital-acquired COVID infections to patients and staff. These efforts have been recognized globally ranking Qatar's COVID response amongst the best in the world."
Dr Al Kuwari also recognized the healthcare sector's support for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
"During the World Cup 2022, our state-of-the-art health services, our public health initiatives in collaboration with the World Health Organization and our healthy cities accredited country made the Qatar 2022 World Cup one of the most healthy World Cups in history despite being at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic."
"As we close our 2nd National Health Strategy (2018-2024) which delivered positive changes to our patients we look forward to launching our 3rd National Health Strategy later this year which will elaborate on the health targets set by the Third Qatar National Development Strategy (2024-2030) towards realizing the Qatar National Vision 2030.
"When we launched this Forum and the Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute with the IHI 10 years ago we aimed for it to become a premier regional hub for healthcare improvement. Our training and improvement programs now cover the whole sector in Qatar, with more than nine private sector hospitals participating in the improvement training and practical programs in 2023. We have localized the online courses and are providing these in Arabic to make them accessible to all Arabic countries and are currently establishing training opportunities and partnerships for health providers within the MENA region."
The opening ceremony of the forum was attended by several health officials from around the world, including WHO Regional Director for Europe DrHans Kluge and WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy, along with several health ministers from various countries.
The opening ceremony also featured addresses from Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at HMC, who is also the co-chair of the Forum, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Kedar Mate, and Senior Fellow and president emeritus of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Dr Donald Berwick. They highlighted the importance of a sustained commitment to quality and safety in healthcare to deliver the best patient outcomes.
This year's forum, with the participation of over 2,500 healthcare professionals from Qatar and the region, both in-person and online, along with prominent global experts.The forum focuses on five educational tracks available to participants: quality and safety, population health, leadership and innovation in healthcare, and the application of improvement and person-centred care.
As the forum enters its tenth year, the Middle East Forum for Healthcare Quality and Safety has contributed to improving quality and enhancing healthcare. Over the past decade, the forum has seen the participation of 26,000 professionals and 800 speakers, including leading experts from Qatar and around the world, resulting in 444,000 professional development hours for healthcare professionals.
