As the last COVID-19 patients were discharged from the Ras Laffan Hospital --- one of the seven hospitals dedicated to exclusively treat the coronavirus patients in the country --- on Wednesday, it signified a milestone in the country’s fight against the pandemic. Over the past four months, the country has passed through a major outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which has crippled economies and killed over half a million people worldwide. Qatar’s response to the pandemic, however, has been swift and effective.
Despite being faced with a major outbreak, Qatar’s mortality rate from the coronavirus infection --- 118 deaths out of 97,897 confirmed cases to date --- is one of the lowest in the world. Of the total, 86,597 patients have already fully recovered. Providing quality healthcare to everyone and enhancing the capacity of the public healthcare system has been central to Qatar’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The government set up the System Wide Incident Command Committee in February, before any coronavirus cases were detected in Qatar, to lead the healthcare sector’s response to the virus. Ever since, the number of ICU beds has more than tripled in the country. Seven hospitals were dedicated to care for the COVID-19 patients.
Four of these hospitals, including Ras Laffa, were previously not in operations. They were readied and made operational in no time to boost the healthcare network’s capacity. As the numbers of new infections being detected and patients requiring hospitalisation have declined significantly in recent weeks, the country has moved to gradually lift the restrictions it started imposing in March to curb the spread of the outbreak.
Malls and shopping centres, public parks, beaches, tourists spots and select restaurants have reopened and working hours restrictions for private businesses have been lifted. Many mosques have also reopened to worshippers. However, the authorities stay vigilant and are ensuring strict precautionary measures at private and public offices and businesses. As the new infection cases have fallen and the demand for hospitalisation of COVID-19 patients has declined, the Ras Laffan Hospital has returned to normal healthcare operations.
The Minister of Public Health H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, who met the last patients leaving the Ras Laffan Hospital, hoped with every community member following the guidelines recommended by the authorities, the remaining COVID-19 hospitals would also return to normal patient care soon. The Minister also thanked the healthcare professionals working on the front lines in the fight against the pandemic.
