Qatar puts the health of the entire community on top of its priorities. The country dealt with healthcare challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and the FIFA World Cup 2022 with extraordinary success because of its focus on building a robust medical infrastructure and world-class health services.
Thanks to the Qatar’s immense efforts for improving health of its population, all Qatari cities were recognised as ‘Healthy Cities’, Qatar University as ‘Healthy University’ and Qatar Foundation’s Education City as ‘Healthy Education City’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in October 2022. With all eight Qatari municipalities being declared ‘Healthy Cities’, Qatar is the first country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to receive the WHO Healthy City awards for all its municipalities.
Now, the Ministry of Municipality is working to get the status of ‘Ideal’ for Qatari cities by making them greener, healthier, more sustainable and inclusive. The work continues to raise the competencies of the ‘Healthy Cities’ to achieve the status of ‘Ideal’.
The ministry’s Healthy City programme continually creates and improves physical and social environments and expands the community resources, enabling people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and developing their maximum potential.
When it comes to Qatar’s healthcare system, it has been ranked in the world’s top five in terms of quality of care. In 2023, five hospitals in Qatar ranked among the world’s top 250 academic medical centres, the highest number of hospitals from the region. The ranking was part of a study by UK-based consultancy, Brand Finance. The four centres under Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) made it onto the list, including Rumailah Hospital, Hamad General Hospital, the National Center for Cancer Care and Research and the Heart Hospital. The fifth Doha-based entity that reached the global ranking is Sidra Medicine. In 2016, the HMC became the first healthcare system in the world to have all its hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) under the Academic Medical Centre accreditation programme.
Qatar’s healthcare system is the best in the region. The country ranked among top 20 countries in Numbeo Healthcare Index by Country 2021. In the survey, Doha emerged as the first in the GCC on Numbeo Healthcare Index by City 2021. Improved life expectancy, better health outcomes, and investment in health infrastructure led Qatar being ranked as 5th in the world for health on Legatum Prosperity Index in 2019.
Qatar has the highest life expectancy rate in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and globally ranks in the top 25 percentile for healthcare access and quality.
