Doha

The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) recently organised a workshop entitled “Beware of Heat Exhaustion”, in cooperation with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Qatar Petroleum.
The workshop was attended by experts from SCH Occupational Health Section and Occupational Health officials from private companies and organisations. The workshop included important lectures on types of heat exhaustion, its effect on eyes, ways to deal with heat exhaustion cases, as well as a review of laws on working hours during summer.
Sheikh Dr. Mohamad bin Hamad al-Thani, director of Public Health, SCH said “Through this workshop and other awareness campaigns, the SCH seeks to reduce heat exhaustion injuries among workers and protect them from occupational injuries caused by working in improper places”.
Quoting the statistics from HMC Emergency Department, the official pointed out that the community is now more aware of heat exhaustion, its symptoms and prevention methods as is evident from the reduction in the number of heat exhaustion cases in 2014 compared to the  previous 3 years.
Dr. Mohammed Ali al-Hajjaj, head of Occupational Health Section, SCH remarked that the SCH is making every effort to implement project 3.7 of the National Health Strategies on Occupational Health and making the work environment, free of occupational injuries.
The official added that an inspector’s team has been doing several field visits to raise awareness among workers on heat exhaustion and prevention methods, and distributing publications in workplaces in different languages. He also added that SCH Health Education Section will be organising awareness campaigns where workers will be educated in their own language.
Hassan al-Sayyed al-Far, occupational health consultant at the SCH Occupational Health Section provided a presentation on heat exhaustion and the importance of knowing different types, means of prevention for each type and how to read temperature indicators.
Dr. Sa’ed Abdulfatah al-Noaimi, senior consultant at HMC gave a presentation on heat exhaustion statistics. He explained that the number of heat exhaustion cases in 2014 did not rise above 800 which is a low percentage compared to previous years, taking into consideration the increase in number of workers in Qatar in 2014.