Dr Samya Ahmad Al Abdulla, Senior Consultant Family Physician and Executive Director for Operations, PHCC addressing the conference.
DOHA: Primary Health Care Corporation Qatar (PHCC) was represented at WONCA EMR’s fifth international family medicine conference held in Kuwait recently.
This year’s WONCA EMR (World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians, Eastern Mediterranean) brought together regional health experts to share ideas, developments that will encourage fostering and maintaining high standards of care in general practice/family medicine.
Dr Samya Ahmad Al Abdulla, Senior Consultant Family Physician and Executive Director for Operations, PHCC , presented an overview to WONCA EMR delegates of Qatar’s ground-breaking SMART Health Check program for population health management.
The presentation included the purpose of structured population health management is to engage the population with their health as an ongoing topic, and screen the population so as to initiate personalized treatment and maintenance measures which will help reduce the burden and cost of disease on the health system.
“The primary objective of the SMART Health Check is to act as a gateway into the full range of primary health care services,” Dr Samya said. “It supports the population of Qatar to take steps to maintain or improve their health. The PHCC program can improve health outcomes for the community, encourage co-ordination of care between providers, and allow integration of care with other locally relevant strategic priorities.”
PHCC’s 2016 pilot informed the design and implementation of an enhanced comprehensive health check, looking at individuals holistically to provide a personalised care plan to improve and maintain health. For the pilot, 4494 people underwent SMART health check between January 2017 and January 2018.
The program offers early intervention against many common comorbidities and chronic diseases including cardiovascular and elevated blood pressure risks, diabetes and obesity, iron-deficiency anemia and B12 deficiency, hepatitis B & C, mental health issues and smoking.
PHCC currently operates 23 health centres across Qatar. In 2018, PHCC is planning to open four new Health Centers including two Health & Wellness Centers. Assessment also includes compliance to age related health maintenance eg: vaccinations, mammogram or bowel cancer screening referrals.
