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CATHERINE W GICHUKI
DOHA
About 17,000 babies have been born at the Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Women’s Wellness and Research Center (WWRC) since the hospital began its full operations a year ago, according to officials.
This week, WWRC is celebrating one-year anniversary of transferring services from Women’s Hospital to the new purpose-built facility.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, WWRC Medical Director Dr Hilal al Rifai said that within one year, WWRC has welcomed nearly 17,000 new babies into the world and has recorded hundreds of thousands of patient visits at the outpatient and emergency departments. “We also celebrated a number of firsts, including members of our staff assisting with the successful separation of conjoined twins born at our hospital. In the last one year, over 20 new clinics and services have been introduced at WWRC – all aimed at boosting the quality of care we provide to patients. Additionally, over 160 new staff joined our team of more than 2,000 highly trained clinicians,” said Dr Rifai.
According to Dr Rifai, WWRC came with the establishment of the general medicine clinic, cardiac clinic that focuses only on the cardiac patients, psychiatry clinic and diabetic clinic together with endocrinology clinic. He said the transfer was preceded by a lot of brainstorming about how to successfully move from the old facility to the new one.
He said, “This required a lot of hard work from different staff from HMC who made a lot of simulations and mock practices before the actual transfer. It is generous for Qatar to put up such state-of-the art facility, which is quite spacious and advanced. To move a whole hospital in a day is a big deal, particularly with the critically ill patients. This was in collaboration with the EMS, Ambulance Service and other departments.”
Rifai said another advantage of the WWRC is the establishment of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for women.
He said, “We are now independent. We have the full capacity in resuscitating and stabilising without the need to transfer the patient to another facility.”
He added that each patient, whether Qatari or non-Qatari, gets the same treatment of having a private room. According to him, the number of specialists, consultants, nurses, and other staff has also increased significantly to fit the new modalities of patient care in the new facility.
Rifai said that HMC and Sidra Medicine collaborate on which patient to be transferred to Sidra Medicine. “If a mother has a baby that requires surgery after birth, it is transferred to Sidra Medicine because paediatric surgeries happen there like the case of the conjoined twins who were separated at Sidra Medicine,” he said.
Assistant Executive Director of Operations and Business Development John Ferguson said activities at the facility have gone up to 20 percent in the first five months of this year compared to last year. He said number is expected to go up.
“According to the National Health Strategy, the idea is to enhance and develop many more services,” he said.
Located on 72,000 square metres area, WWRC is the largest women’s tertiary hospital in Qatar and in the region. WWRC is also home to the region’s largest Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which extends across two floors and is able to care for over 100 high-risk or critically ill newborns. WWRC has 240 private inpatient rooms, seven operating theatres and 26 delivery rooms.
DOHA
About 17,000 babies have been born at the Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Women’s Wellness and Research Center (WWRC) since the hospital began its full operations a year ago, according to officials.
This week, WWRC is celebrating one-year anniversary of transferring services from Women’s Hospital to the new purpose-built facility.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, WWRC Medical Director Dr Hilal al Rifai said that within one year, WWRC has welcomed nearly 17,000 new babies into the world and has recorded hundreds of thousands of patient visits at the outpatient and emergency departments. “We also celebrated a number of firsts, including members of our staff assisting with the successful separation of conjoined twins born at our hospital. In the last one year, over 20 new clinics and services have been introduced at WWRC – all aimed at boosting the quality of care we provide to patients. Additionally, over 160 new staff joined our team of more than 2,000 highly trained clinicians,” said Dr Rifai.
According to Dr Rifai, WWRC came with the establishment of the general medicine clinic, cardiac clinic that focuses only on the cardiac patients, psychiatry clinic and diabetic clinic together with endocrinology clinic. He said the transfer was preceded by a lot of brainstorming about how to successfully move from the old facility to the new one.
He said, “This required a lot of hard work from different staff from HMC who made a lot of simulations and mock practices before the actual transfer. It is generous for Qatar to put up such state-of-the art facility, which is quite spacious and advanced. To move a whole hospital in a day is a big deal, particularly with the critically ill patients. This was in collaboration with the EMS, Ambulance Service and other departments.”
Rifai said another advantage of the WWRC is the establishment of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for women.
He said, “We are now independent. We have the full capacity in resuscitating and stabilising without the need to transfer the patient to another facility.”
He added that each patient, whether Qatari or non-Qatari, gets the same treatment of having a private room. According to him, the number of specialists, consultants, nurses, and other staff has also increased significantly to fit the new modalities of patient care in the new facility.
Rifai said that HMC and Sidra Medicine collaborate on which patient to be transferred to Sidra Medicine. “If a mother has a baby that requires surgery after birth, it is transferred to Sidra Medicine because paediatric surgeries happen there like the case of the conjoined twins who were separated at Sidra Medicine,” he said.
Assistant Executive Director of Operations and Business Development John Ferguson said activities at the facility have gone up to 20 percent in the first five months of this year compared to last year. He said number is expected to go up.
“According to the National Health Strategy, the idea is to enhance and develop many more services,” he said.
Located on 72,000 square metres area, WWRC is the largest women’s tertiary hospital in Qatar and in the region. WWRC is also home to the region’s largest Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which extends across two floors and is able to care for over 100 high-risk or critically ill newborns. WWRC has 240 private inpatient rooms, seven operating theatres and 26 delivery rooms.
