More than 3,000 healthcare professionals are gathering, in person and virtually, for this year’s Forum, the largest event of its kind in the region dedicated to quality and safety of care.
“I would like to start by saying how great it is to hold our first in-person Middle East Forum since 2019,” said HE Dr. Al Kuwari. “As with many aspects of life, we have had to change the way we do things throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and that has meant delivering this important Forum virtually. arrested; we just had to adapt and do things differently. This is a wonderful example of the resilience of healthcare in extraordinary times; the perfect theme for this year’s Forum.
The Minister said that in Qatar, we are fortunate to be guided by the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, who has emphasized resilience in all our plans and national policies.
This means that as a country we were well positioned to successfully overcome challenges such as Covid-19. And our National Vision 2030 has driven us to strive to excel in delivering healthcare to all who live in Qatar so that we can have a healthy and prosperous population.
His Highness also places great importance on global health security and Qatar supplies countries in crisis through its relief programs such as the most recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
The minister commended the health sector’s response to COVID-19, explaining that by working together across the health system, in collaboration with the community, health care teams have played a pivotal role in Qatar, having one of the lowest and highest COVID-19 death rates. Global COVID-19 vaccination rates.
During his address, HE Dr. Al Kuwari also highlighted the contribution of the health sector to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: “After 12 years of planning and preparation under the vision and guidance of the leaders of Qatar, the nation hosted a truly incredible tournament which was widely acclaimed as the greatest FIFA World Cup of all time. Many sectors from all over Qatar played a significant role in the success of the tournament and in As a health system, we have been at the forefront of these efforts.
“The planning, preparation and execution of our overall strategy for the FIFA World Cup has taken a truly incredible effort from healthcare teams across the sector and I am deeply grateful to all those who have played their part in this remarkable achievement,” added HE Dr Al Kuwari.
The Minister also noted that despite COVID-19 and the FIFA World Cup making the past three years the most challenging period for healthcare personnel in recent memory, Qatar’s dedicated healthcare teams have made tremendous strides outside of these two areas of work to continue to improve the quality of care delivered across the health system.
The Minister highlighted several of the key achievements of the health sector since 2020, including:
Opening of Aisha Bint Hamad Al Attiyah Hospital – the second largest HMC hospital in terms of size and capacity – further strengthening the public sector hospital network.
Opened 6 new state-of-the-art health and wellness centers, bringing the total number of Primary Health Care Corporation health centers to 31 and improving care delivery in the community.
Achieving World Health Organization “Healthy City” status for all eight municipalities, becoming the first country in the world to achieve this status for all of its municipalities, in addition to similar awards for Qatar University and the education city.
Designation of HMC’s Department of Geriatrics and Long-Term Care as a WHO Collaborating Center for Healthy Aging and Dementia, in addition to collaborating center agreements for the WHO Collaborating Center for analysis of disease epidemiology on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and viral hepatitis from Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, and the WHO Collaborating Center for the Treatment of Tobacco Dependence with the Control Center tobacco from the HMC.
The implementation of a range of telemedicine and virtual services across the public health sector, including the National Mental Health Helpline, is making access to care more convenient than ever.
Obtained Planetree International Certification for Excellence in Person-Centred Care at 5 HMC facilities, officially recognizing the highest levels of achievement in person-centred care.
To have 4 HMC and Sidra Medicine hospitals ranked among the top 250 academic medical centers in the world, underscoring the healthcare industry’s commitment to combining patient care, medical research and education to achieve the best outcomes and experience for patients.
“Yet, despite these incredible achievements, we are committed to continuously moving forward,” said HE Dr Al Kuwari. “Throughout 2023, we will focus our efforts on implementing the new national insurance program; providing timely access to care for patients; and ensuring that Qatar’s healthcare system continues to be a regional leader for the quality and safety of health care, offering services on par with the best health systems in the world.
This year’s Forum will focus on healthcare resilience in extraordinary times with five learning tracks for participants:
improvement science
Person-centred care
Flow, security and value enhancement
Leadership, resilience and sustainability
Population health
The opening ceremony of the Middle East Forum also featured remarks from Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the HMC and Co-Chair of the Forum, and Kedar Mate, MD, President and CEO of the Institute. for Healthcare Improvement, both of which highlighted the importance of a sustained commitment to quality and safety in healthcare to deliver the best patient outcomes.