Growth spurt: Investments are under way to expand industry offerings

In line with the objectives articulated in Qatar National Vision 2030, the government has invested significant resources to reform the health sector and to improve standards. The underlying principle supporting the reform process is to shift from the current hospital-based acute-care system to a more integrated model of services. In the new model, acute care will be one element in a broader system anchored around high-quality primary care services. This shift is designed to emphasise the benefits of preventive measures that ensure that patients enter the system before their needs become critical.

IMPROVING STANDARDS: Within this context, Qatar is working to implement a number of programmes and systems to improve standards. These include investing in cutting-edge infrastructure to support the health care system, developing a more robust licensing system to maintain quality and standards across the system, and developing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system.

The Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar’s largest health care provider, continues to invest in further sector expansion. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s quality assurance in radiation oncology programme recently commended its Al Amal cancer hospital. The assessment shows that radiation oncology care at the hospital meets the highest international standards in terms of safety and quality.

The Trauma Centre at HMC’s Hamad General Hospital treated an estimated 2300 patients in 2010 while simultaneously reducing the length of patients’ hospital stay by half, from an average of 12 days to just six. Since the establishment of the programme in November 2007, the mortality rate for trauma patients has halved. The World Health Organisation recognised the facility to be one of the first such trauma centres outside the US to provide such a comprehensive system of care, from pre-hospital, to injury prevention, to critical care. A related service, HMC’s Ambulance Service, became the first such operation in the region to be accredited by the Joint Commission International, the global arm of the US’s oldest standards accreditation organisation. The Ambulance Service is the fifth ambulatory programme outside the US to receive this credential.

CELL THERAPY: Qatar Foundation’s Qatar Science and Technology Park provides the framework for the Virgin Health Bank, which is an advanced stem cell processing facility. Stem cells are already being used today in the treatment of over 80 illnesses, including cancers of the blood, such as leukaemia and blood disorders. The Virgin Health Bank collaborates closely with HMC and other primary care centres throughout Qatar. It is also investing a significant amount of resources to educate families and physicians in the scope and value of its services. The Virgin Health bank is the first of its kind in the country and will enable Qatar to be at the forefront of similar developments in cellular therapies.

The commissioning of Hamad Medical City campus is under way and is scheduled for completion in 2014. It consists of a Women’s Hospital with 190 private rooms, a day surgery centre specialising in minimally invasive procedures, a rehabilitation hospital and a translational research institute. These and similar new services will significantly increase HMC’s capacity to meet Qatar’s growing health care demand.

SETTING STANDARDS: A major challenge in shifting health care provision from a hospital-based acute-care system to one that focuses on primary care is maintaining standards within the primary care system. This is made particularly complex as the sector diversifies and expands to include a greater number of private sector health care providers.

For these reasons, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) is developing systems and processes to ensure the quality and equity of services provided. The SCH is reforming its licensing systems to improve standards of public and private physicians, technicians and medical facilities. Under this mandate, the SCH created the Qatar Council for Health Practitioners (QCHP), which will replace the existing Medical Licensing Department. The QCHP will bring all medical licensing under one department, helping to standardise monitoring and evaluation functions across public and private providers, though for the immediate future HMC will maintain its own licensing system.

OVERSIGHT: Under the SCH, the Quality Management Department will serve as the regulatory body that will issue licences to health care facilities and practitioners. QCHP, however, will be responsible for improving performance and competence of all the health care practitioners. It will also investigate feedback and complaints about public and private health care facilities or personnel. In parallel, the SCH is investing in streamlining the licensing process.

As part of the National Health Strategy’s core focus on monitoring and evaluation, the Qatar National Health Accounts will measure the financial scope of the system, overseeing all fiscal transactions, including how much money flows in, where it comes from, who manages it, and where the money is spent. This data will enable policy makers to better target resources and also provide much needed data for private sector participation in the sector, particularly for health insurance companies.

HEALTH REGISTRY: The SCH has already launched a national occupational health registry that will track and categorise workplace-related diseases and incidents. This move primarily focuses on accidents among expatriate labourers working in the construction industry and should help the SCH identify issues and gaps in health care facilities and services for this group. It is estimated that almost 30% of the patients at Hamad General Hospital could be treated at specialised clinics for workplace injuries instead of placing a burden on the hospital’s emergency services.

The second programme under the National Health Strategy is a national integrated e-health system that would connect and share data across the entire health care system. The programme would, for example, ensure that images taken at hospitals are digitally stored and shared among physicians elsewhere in the system. HMC has already implemented databases from GE Healthcare that will move away from using traditional x-ray film to a digital technology. This will facilitate improved diagnosis and patient care capabilities by enabling access to patients’ records immediately and from a variety of locations.

Qatar’s vision for its health sector is ambitious but, as the significant progress over the last 10 years demonstrates, the country is well on-track to meet its development targets. It is also working toward ensuring it has a cadre of well-qualified medical professionals and researchers by investing in developing medical facilities, education centres and related infrastructure. Most importantly, Qatar is ensuring the sustainability of these investments by building systems and developing policies and regulations to ensure that the quality of health care matches the facilities, making a strong foundation for the sector.