Minister of public health opens Ambulatory Care Center’s state-of-the-art intensive care unit

The 14-bed unit can accommodate paediatric and adult patients requiring specialized intensive care following surgeryTribune News NetworkDohaMinister of Public Health, Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, today opened the Ambulatory Care Center’s new intensive care unit. The state-of-the-art new facility is designed to provide critical care support and close monitoring to patients after emergency or elective procedures.The newly established unit is located on the 1st floor of ACC, offering 14 ICU beds, including one isolation room, for surgical and medical patients. It is designed to accommodate adult patients needing intensive care services and pediatric patients in the observation unit.Commenting on the new unit, H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari said: “The specialized unit provides high-quality services for critically ill patients primarily from the three Medical City hospitals - the ACC, Women’s Wellness and Research Center and the Qatar Rehabilitation Institute. The opening of this unit strengthens HMC’s ICU capacity and demonstrates our commitment to continually advancing the quality of care provided to patients.”Dr. Khalid Al Jalham, Director of ACC, explained the strategic decision that led to the establishment of the ICU: “Traditionally an ambulatory care facility provides patient assessment, and treatment for conditions that usually enables them to go home the same day or after a short stay in a medical ward. However, during the pandemic, the ACC facility was called upon to provide ICU care for patients and set up 10 interim ICU-beds in September 2020. In 2021, 409 adult and 77 pediatric patients were admitted to the ACC’s ICU for specialist care.”“This project was so successful that a decision was made to establish a permanent ICU within the ACC facility. The ACC ICU now offers critical care services with 14 beds that are equipped with state-of-the-art ICU equipment and staffed with highly trained ICU personnel. I am extremely proud of my team and what they have achieved through hard work and dedication to patients,” added Dr. Al Jalham.Dr. Nissar Shaikh, Head of the ACC ICU, explained that the unit follows the international guidelines which are modified to suit the facility and patient population: “We emulated the high-standard ICU set up in Hamad General Hospital to provide high-quality intensive care; our facility is therefore based on standards from Joint Commission International (JCI), College of American Pathologists (CAP) and Compassionate Health Initiative. ACC ICU ensures that the staff maintains their professional expertise and skills according to the latest evidence-based and best practices as followed by the international critical care societies around the world.”The 14-bed unit provides Level 1 services (close monitoring) for pediatric patients (aged 28 days and above) and adult patients (aged 14 years and above).  It also provides Level 2 & 3  services (High Dependency Unit & Intensive Care Unit) for adult patients (above 14 years of age).  The unit has a high nurse to patient ratio to ensure staff are able to focus on needs of the critically ill patients like monitoring and providing supportive care.            The ACC’s ICU admits a wide range of critical care patients with multiple medical conditions, usually following complex surgeries. Typically, these are for head and neck radical surgeries, high-risk and critically ill obstetrics and gynecology patients, or complex and critically ill urology and ophthalmology patients. After stabilizing these patients in the ICU, they will be transferred to a medical ward in ACC or, depending on what kind of patient they are, they can be transferred to the Women’s Wellness and Research Center or the Qatar Rehabilitation Institute.