DOHA: In response to the forecast of unstable weather conditions, the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) network, including Ambulance Service and Hamad General Hospital (HGH), has activated its major incident response plans and taken pre-emptive measures to ensure safe and effective care.
Yesterday, Ambulance Service responded to more than 250 calls between 6am and 3pm — 50 more than the previous day and comprised regular emergency calls and traffic accidents.
Despite road and weather conditions, Ambulance Service maintained excellent response times. Also, 238 patients were treated at HGH’s Emergency Department, including six trauma cases.
With the response plan in place, all HMC facilities have enough medicines, other medical supplies and equipment to deal with rainwater accumulation.
HMC’s major incident response teams were also put on standby and Ambulance Service called in extra vehicles and staff to ensure they were ready to respond.
HMC and HGH also took operational measures to ensure smooth and safe delivery of patient care.
The Bone and Joint Centre was closed temporarily and patient appointments were rescheduled.
All HMC Emergency Departments across the network of hospitals continued to operate at full capacity throughout yesterday’s inclement weather.
Dr Yousef Al Maslamani, Medical Director, HGH, said the hospital’s Emergency Department experienced a quieter than usual day. The Male See and Treat Unit treated 160 patients and the Female See and Treat Unit saw 78.
“HMC’s network of hospitals, Ambulance Service and HGH made meticulous plans and were fully prepared in advance for today’s events,” Dr Al Maslamani said.
“We drew support from across our system and ensured we had not only enough medicine and supplies but extra capacity to ensure we continued to provide the highest quality care to all our patients. I am proud of efforts of all of our staff – clinical and non-clinical – in proving that we can meet any challenge and ensure seamless delivery of care,” Dr Al Maslamani added.
The Peninsula
