Tribune News Network
Doha
Minister of Public Health Her Excellency Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari on Monday inaugurated the Primary Health Care Corporation’s 28th health centre in the country, in South Al Wakra.
Dr Mariam Abdulmalik, the Managing Director of PHCC, and a number of health officials attended the opening ceremony.
The Minister toured the South Al Wakra Health Center and was briefed on the services available for patients, as well as the various specialised clinics and the HC's facilities.
The minister stressed Qatar’s plan to open a number of new health centres in the country to meet the increasing needs of the public for primary health care services.
She said MoPH was working to ensure that all patients receive health care at the right time and place, while improving patients' experience and enhancing their safety. There is also a continuous development of the quality of services provided to keep pace with patients' needs, while applying the best and highest standards of quality.
Dr Kuwari also pointed out that the National Primary Health Care Strategy is committed to enabling the patient to have faster access to high quality primary health care services to achieve patient's satisfaction level.
For her part, Dr. Mariam Abdulmalik, Managing Director of PHCC, mentioned that the new HC has been provided with all the necessary requirements to deliver an outstanding health and medical services level for optimal use.
Dr. Abdulmalik explained that the distribution of services in HCs has been done in accordance with the plans developed, Corporate Strategy, future vision, and the needs of patients, noting that South Al Wakra HC has been implemented in accordance with the highest standards approved for health facilities and with international standards, to achieve the required sustainability standards and ensure the comprehensiveness and integration of services.
With the launch of South Al Wakra HC, the number of PHCC HCs increased to 28, distributed across all regions of the country, where a number of patients in the zone will be transferred to the new HC, which will have a positive impact on booking appointments, especially for specialized clinics. In the first year, the HC's capacity will be 5,000 patients, then it will gradually increase to 10,000 patients.
The new HC will receive patients during the official working hours between 7am to 11pm, Sunday to Thursday.
The services covered in the main building include a pharmacy, general clinics (six clinics), dental clinic (one), pediatric clinic (two clinics), medical labs, radiology section (including X-Ray & ECG room), isolation room, and Masjid building.
Spread over an area of about 3,000sq m, South Al Wakra HC includes a single-storey main building with a main clinical building (health center) covering nine clinics, annex buildings, a mosque, support services building, guards building, monitoring chamber, an electrical and mechanical maintenance annex, a garage for ambulances, and 127 parking slots.
The buildings design also reflects the heritage and culture of Qatar without compromising international standards of safety for fire protection, besides green buildings and a 3-star rated sustainability. Another important design feature of the architectural design of the HC is inclusion of next generation technologies in the field of medical equipment.
The project design has considered requirements of people with special needs, including signage messaging, illustrations and Braille script, comfortable toilets, wide walkways for easy movement, auto-sensor doors, and reception desks with convenient height, besides car parking spaces close to the main entrances and ramps in place of steps.
Most notably, the design of the new health centers came in accordance with the highest standards of quality and safety and with the standards of the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), where architectural and operational considerations were taken to accomplish a 3-star environmental level in terms of energy saving and environment preservation. This includes using solar energy for the purpose of in-house water heating, using natural sunlight through panoramic roof windows, allowing sun light in to save a quite bit of electricity, which is used in lights and to disinfect the place as much as possible, having a rational consumption of water inside and outside the building, and providing growing green areas around the facility.
The location of South Al Wakra HC around schools enhances future activities to support common issues and interests between the two.
PHCC started the trial run of the new HC on Sunday, August 8, 2021 by opening the reception and appointments for the HC staff and PHCC staff and their families only within the trial launch of the HC to check the status of the workflow, which would support the people of Al Wakra city in addition to the current health center.
This comes as part of the country’s interest in the health sector and in line with the National Primary Health Care Strategy to deliver comprehensive, integrated, and person-centered health care that works in partnership with individuals, family, and society to promote the health and well-being of the people of Qatar on an international level.
Patients can use PHCC's Nar'aakom mobile application to register in or transfer to the new South Al Wakra HC, where the services cover some of the neighborhoods of zone 90 according to the national address. The new HC will provide services through the appointments system and the walk-in system after classification.
