Doha: Qatar’s heavy investments for the development of healthcare infrastructure, medical supplies and other products and services for over the last several years have helped the country achieve 100 percent self-sufficiency.
The advance planning and long-term vision supported by strategic investments in expanding capacity of healthcare facilities, is now proving helpful. The country is today well-positioned in fighting its battle against the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic on its own to keep the people of this country safe and protected, noted a tweet by the Government Communications Office (GCO-Qatar).
Qatar’s healthcare spending is among the highest in the Middle East and one of the best in the world. Despite already having several world-class hospitals and a modern public healthcare system and other facilities in Qatar, the government has continued with its massive investment plan in 2020. Government has allocated QR22.6bn ($6.20bn) to the sector alone for the current fiscal year, which will be spend during the year to further develop and upgrade the healthcare system. The allocation is nearly 11 percent of the total national budget of QR210.5bn for 2020. The country had invested QR22.7bn ($6.23bn) in healthcare sector in 2018, up 4 percent compared to the previous year.
“Despite the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Qatar’s investment in self-sufficiency in medicine and medical supplies has reinforced our efforts to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our citizens and residents,” said the GCO-Qatar, through its official twitter handle.
In addition to this, Qatar also has a number of vibrant private healthcare providers, including several hospitals, which are fully equipped with well-qualified doctors, paramedics and medical supplies.
“Although the government has adequate facilities and it is already doing a fantastic job by providing the best possible care to all the positive COVID-19 cases. However, the private sector is also fully ready and equipped to cooperate with the government healthcare system if needed. God forbid, if the number of COVID-19 positive cases increase in the coming days, the private sector is fully ready on standby to extend their services. They will work in collaboration with the public healthcare system. According to my information, the government has already put in place facilities to quarantine them,” Qatar Chamber Board Member Ebtihaj Al Ahmadani, told The Peninsula, yesterday.
Al Ahmadani, who is also the member of QC’s healthcare committee, added: “To be candid, Qatar his doing much better than the advanced countries like in Europe and America, and far better than other countries in the region. Despite the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 and short of time, Qatar is able to handle the situation much comfortably than others in the region.
This became possible as a result of swift action and meticulous planning, and of course with the support of state-of-the-art medical facilities which has been developed for over the last one decade’s of hard efforts.”
It is important to note that Qatar ranks highly on several key global healthcare metrics. For instance, in terms of doctor-people ration, Qatar ranks first with 77.4 physicians per 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation. And according to Legatum Institute, Qatar’s heavy investment in the healthcare infrastructure has helped the country achieve 4th position in the world in terms of population satisfaction. The 2019 Legatum Prosperity Rankings placed Qatar in the top five globally for health, and the highest in the region.
“The country has also made great strides towards achieving 100 percent self-sufficiency in both medics and medical supplies. At any given time, Hamad Medical Corporation maintains extensive reserves of all vital medications and associated supplies,” noted an info-graph by GCO-Qatar, which highlights the country’s preparedness.
