Like all other sectors which are passing through major infrastructural development, healthcare system in Qatar too is fast growing to meet most-advanced standards of the world.
Along the establishment of new health centers in the country to cater increasing population of Qatar, existing healthcare infrastructure of the country is being upgraded to adopt the latest technologies and innovations thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Public Health.
Keeping pace with the modern world, the Hamad Medical Corporation’s Ambulance Service has now installed a new Emergency Warning System (EWS) in about 50 ambulances for a pilot phase of three months.
The new radio over-broadcast system allows the ambulance crew to alert drivers up to 300 metres ahead. “The system will interrupt the radio broadcast and switch over automatically to unused channel enabling drivers to listen to an audio message, ‘Warning. Ambulance approaching. Give way’, in Arabic and English. The system has a technology that can interrupt and switch over even if you are listening to a CD,” said Thomas Reimann, Executive Director of Healthcare Coordination and Support Services at HMC’s Ambulance Service.
The new system will compliment the usual lights and sirens on ambulances. At the end of the trial period, the HMC’s Ambulance Service will conduct a final assessment to find the efficiency of the system.
In a related development meant to introduce the latest medical equipment into country’s healthcare system, last week Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) officially opened its state-of-the-art Trauma and Emergency Center at Hamad General Hospital.
As part of the inauguration, the new Hyperbaric Therapy Unit was also officially opened, highlighting one of the many cutting-edge therapies that HMC is bringing to Qatar.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves sitting or lying inside a sealed chamber and wearing an air mask with two tubes attached - one providing pure oxygen, the other taking old air away. The therapy is painless and non-invasive. HMC’s new hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber features both VIP and standard seating and can also accommodate an ICU bed.
Meanwhile, the Emergency Department of HMC has also started providing same level of care and services across all hospitals. Emergency is the first department which has been corporatized across the HMC network, said Aftab Mohammad Azad, Deputy Chairman, Corporate Emergency Department, HMC said yesterday. “We have four major emergency departments, which are at the
Hamad General Hospital (HGH), Al Wakra Hospital, Al Khor Hospital and Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital. We are providing the same level of care in all hospitals. There are some differences depending on the available sub specialties, but it is considered as one unit and same physicians see patients across the hospitals. It is one of the biggest achievements,” he said.
