The public satisfaction among healthcare in Qatar will be measured by the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) survey. This study will consider all private clinics and hospitals, the facilities under the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), and the primary health centers. “The survey will be carried out by a competent private agency and will cover a large cross-section of the Qatari and expatriate population. The purpose is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the healthcare sector, with a focus on each provider. No such survey on this scale was carried out in the country in the past” Dr. Jamal Rashid Al Khanji, director of the Healthcare Quality Management Department told The Peninsula yesterday.

Levels of prices, treatment, waiting time, facilities, customer care and the performance of doctors, paramedics and other medical areas will be evaluated by asking people. “We are working on the details to make the survey as comprehensive as possible. Besides asking people to fill up a questionnaire, the survey team may also contact people directly over telephone since this is found to be a best way to get their opinion. Since it is an extensive survey, it would take several months to complete. We expect to complete the project by the year-end. The findings will be published for information of the public” added Al Khanji.

SCH will be able to detect the inappropriate hospitals with this survey. “We will contact them directly and force them to take the necessary steps to improve their services. SCH will soon announce the findings of a previous survey focusing on patient safety in the public and private health care facilities in the country” Al Khanji revealed.

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It was announced by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the Department of Radiation Oncology at Al Amal Hospital in Doha is a Centre of Competence under its Quality Assurance in Radiation Oncology Program. This announcement means that radiation oncology care at the hospital, one of the region’s leading radiation therapy providers became the best in providing the highest international standards in terms of safety and quality. The Quality Assurance Team for Radiation Oncology’s (QUATRO) audit report said “The Al Amal Radiation Oncology Department is a model for cancer care organization. Safety levels are at their highest, and quality assurance procedures are very well-established in written form at all levels”.

The QUATRO audit is one of the leading international benchmarks for measuring the quality and safety of clinical care in radiation oncology. Becoming a Center of Competence means that the center is capable of delivering radiotherapy to the highest international standards as well as serving as a model for other radiotherapy centers globally. Dr Noora Al Hammadi, Chairman of Radiation Oncology presented an official handover of the audit findings to Dr Hanan Al Kuwari, Managing Director, HMC during a celebration yesterday.

Dr Al Hammadi said “We are thrilled to have been assessed as working at this advanced level and will continue to strive to provide our patients with the best services possible. Patients in Qatar can be assured that the services we offer here surpass those offered in most countries globally. We are a model center and we are proud of this achievement”. The QUATRO is a specialized division of the IAEA containing number of experts’ radiation oncology personnel who work globally with healthcare organizations, ministries of health and hospitals. In October 2010 an international team of QUATRO experts visited Al Amal Hospital to present their audit in a five-day mission managed by Qatar’s Ministry of Environment.

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Qatar University (QU) hosted a seminar at the Department of Health Sciences last Sunday discussing cord blood stem cell banking and procedures currently operated in Qatar to provide the required cord blood stem cells. Chris Goodman, Director of Operations at Virgin Health Bank LLC, a cord blood stem cell bank located at Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) managed the seminar. Virgin Health Bank LLC is considered the only blood bank licensed by Qatar’s Supreme Council of Heath and the UK’s Human Tissue Authority (HTA), and has offered services to many families in Qatar to store their babies’ cord blood stem cells.

The importance of stem cells in medicine, their ability to multiply and transform into specialized cells and their therapeutic uses are topics discussed in the seminar. Goodman mentioned that umbilical cord blood has been identified as a rich source of these cells. He said “Stem cells are already being used today, in the treatment of over 80 illnesses, mainly from matched donors to treat cancers of the blood such as leukemia, and blood disorders such as sickle-cell anemia and beta Thalassaemia. Many scientists and medical experts believe there will be breakthroughs in the future for individuals having access to his or her own stored cord blood stem cells. This is known as regenerative medicine and offers the hope of future treatments and potential cures for some of the most debilitating diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s”.

He added “Virgin Health Bank has partnered with several maternity hospitals in Qatar, namely the Women’s Hospital at Hamad Medical Corporation, Al Emadi Hospital, Al Ahli Hospital, and Doha Clinic Hospital to educate the community about stem cells and their importance by providing bilingual educational material and expert clinical advice for expectant families”.

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Dr. Matthew Fink, Professor of Clinical Neurology and Interim Chairman and Neurologist-in-Chief of the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, announced that women may be in danger if they delay pregnancy until a later age. He said so at the monthly community health seminar, Medicine & U moderated by Professor Basim M. Uthman at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha “The increasing prevalence of hypertension, cardiac disease, obesity and diabetes also adds to the risk of stroke for mothers”. According to latest researches, diabetes, obesity and hypertension are highly spreading among women in Qatar and the Middle East. Cardiovascular diseases will be a major health problem due to this high prevalence of obesity and hypertension.

In USA over the past 15 years; pregnancy-associated stroke has increased as mentioned in a recent national study which showed that women with stroke during pregnancy, or soon after giving birth reached 54% in the past 12 years. Also higher volume of blood in the body, high blood pressure, blood clots and migraine headaches may lead to stroke. Dr. Fink said “Stroke prevention should focus on risk factor reduction, particularly hypertension, and older women should seek excellent prenatal care. Practical lifestyle changes including weight reduction, regular exercise, a healthy diet and less salt in the diet can help to lower high blood pressure. In vitro fertilization also raises a host of new questions and potential problems that require study, especially in older women”

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New patient care units were opened at Hamad General Hospital – part of Hamad Medical Corporation – in Doha on the sixth floor. This step aims to increase the hospital’s bed capacity and provide more spacious and comfortable accommodations, and continuously ensure high quality care for patients. The units were launched during a ceremony at the hospital, which was attended by HMC executives and other staff members. A new Discharge Lounge and Intravenous (IV) Therapy Unit on the sixth floor of the facility is included in the hospital which able to hold 14 discharged patients while the IV Therapy Unit has a capacity of 12 beds, which are turned over about every two hours.

Also there is a new Emergency Acute Care Unit on the sixth floor which will have 16 beds in common rooms, and four private rooms. Another development is the opening of a new Medical/Surgical Unit which has a capacity of 26 beds, 10 of which are in private rooms. “We have been working hard to provide a comfortable, safe and healing environment and promote easier access to quality care for our patients. The new patient care units are part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that our patients’ well-being is constantly at the center of the care being provided at HGH,” said Colene Daniel, Executive Director of HGH. This project targets three HMC hospitals – HGH, Women’s Hospital and Rumailah Hospital. Through this renewed program the mistakes in providing patient services or daily routines and pathways will be as little as possible.

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The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) in Doha forced a leading distributor to decrease prices of several medicines in the local market. The SCH has announced that the 20% cap imposed on the distributor applies to the total profit margin of the wholesaler and the retailer. Stickers must also be put by the company on each packet of medicines showing the maximum retail price (MRP). Due to the imposed limit on prices, the coast of several medicines has been decreased.

The SCH statement mentioned “The Permanent Licensing Committee of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has decided to set a maximum limit for the prices and profit margins of drugs and formulations supplied by one of the largest drug dealers in the country. This is due to the unjustified prices of the drugs and formulations supplied by this company”.

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A partnership between Omani and Qatari healthcare institutions will be addressed with a focus on diabetes prevention and treatment. Muscat Daily met with Dr Javaid Sheikh, dean of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, who presented a paper on ‘The role of academic health systems in improving healthcare of a country: Implications for Oman‘. He said during the recent Oman Health Care Expansion Summit “We have established a center focusing on diabetics, which has basic science, translation and clinical centers with advanced genetics laboratories. We examine diabetic patients by using second generation sequence row to identify genes that cause the disease”.

He added “We have found some of the genes which predispose the Qatari population to diabetics, and plan to identify them in the other GCC countries with the same methods. We are also looking to expand our collaboration with the Ministry of Health in the field of medical research for the benefit of humanity. Being the first center in this part of the world for stem cell study, we are looking at the applications of research. As is already known, we can use stem cells to cure cancer and other diseases, and our research focuses on this aspect”.

A new technology and treatment will be developed after getting the results of the rese-arch to heal cancer and diabetics, and to minimize disabilities arising from heart disease. Dr Sheikh commented “We have initiated a program to predict the gender of the date palm tree for the first time. This will make a big difference in breeding, and will help to find out genetic risk factors as well. We are patenting a few applications that will prevent disease and produce good quality crop, and will be made available very soon. I think Oman has a wonderful five year program in place and the healthcare system is very good. What is needed now is to get to the next step in research. My paper at the summit was on the academic health science system and how we can transform it by bringing in new ideas and models”.

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In order to develop Qatar‘s mental healthcare services design, the ministry decided to hire new members at the National Mental Health Committee. This committee supervises the implementation of an integrated local approach to mental healthcare. This decision was made by Minister of Public Health and Secretary General of Supreme Council of Health (SCH), H E Abdullah bin Khalid Al Qahtani.

Those members include: Dr Abdullah Mohamed Al Kaabi, the Consultant and Director the children hospital project; Terence Charky, the Executive Director of the Mental Health Program at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Dr Mamoun Mohammed Obaid, representative of the Ministry of Interior; Dr Kholoud Atiq Al Mutawa, representative of the Department of Public Health, SCH; Talal Al Emadi, lecturer at Qatar University; and Sherlyn Osun from HMC. Besides reducing the prevalence of risk factors that contribute to the onset of mental illness; this plan aims reduce the incidence, prevalence and severity of mental illness in Qatar.

Through this plan people with a mental illness will be able to increase their participation in the community, education and training. As a result of applying this plan the public will be more aware to ignore social stigma associated to mental illnesses. Salih Ali Al Marri, Asst General Secretary of Medical Affairs, SCH and Professor Bruce Singh, Assistant Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne will be the committee supervisors.

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In order to stop the extreme increasing of medicines prices during the past few months, the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) in Doha is considering a specific request. An official said “The SCH can no longer fix the prices of medicines as per the new laws, but the laws do not prevent it from putting a ceiling on the prices”. This problem will be solved with new laws implemented recently allowed dealers to fix the prices of medicines. A governmental intervene is necessary due to prices rising to more than 50%.

“Expectations were that the prices would come down as the market opens to competition and more importers enter the fray. The ideal situation is to leave the prices to be determined by the market itself. But the authorities would be forced to intervene if some greedy dealers try to exploit the situation” said the official. Despite exclusive dealerships are ended theoretically, the existing dealers will continue to enjoy that status if the manufacturers are not willing to award agency rights to new importers. Also, in case a specific mechanism isn’t placed the current dealers would continue to dominate the market.

Nowadays, importers are allowed to bring medicines from their original country and any other agents in other countries. Industry sources said “Since the market is not yet ready for competition, prices of medicines are not likely to come down in the immediate future in the absence of effective government intervention”.

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During the last few months, prices of medicines have increased in Doha by 40 to 50% with the introduction of new pricing legislation. The government control over retail prices has been ended by the law which enables importers to establish their own prices. The government’s decision to free-medicine pricing without more licensed drug importing companies was rejected by several pharmacists and consumers to break the existing monopoly in the market. The sudden increase with medicines prices being doubled has surprised both expats and citizens.

Hussam Al Sharif, a pharmacist said “The hike in prices of medicine due to abolition of exclusive dealers, the decision was not implemented. The drug prices in Qatar are higher than neighboring countries and dealers here are now exploiting the free-pricing policy by increasing prices by an average of 25 percent. This hike differ from one medicine to another sometimes 40 percent”.

He added “More dealers should be allowed before free-pricing policy is introduced. Also dealers are to be blamed for the hike not companies as the prices are stable in the international market. Earlier there was a 30 percent profit limit for dealers, now they can amass as much profit as they want and are exploiting the chances”.

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