By Joseph Varghese/Staff Report



With the rapidly rising population and the serious crunch on the medical facilities, the Supreme Council of Heath ( SCH) has embarked on an expansion of the health facilities, which are expected to almost double by 2022.
According to the annual report published recently by the SCH, the number of hospitals, health centres and Medical Commission units  will reach 66 by 2022 from 35 in 2014.The report also highlights that there will be an addition of 1,040 hospital beds by next year alone.
For rapidity and efficiency, the SCH had outsourced the operation of five Single Male Labourer (SML) facilities to the private sector by 2014. By 2016, the SCH and Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) will have outsourced the operation of over 10 other facilities to the private sector.
Presently, the SCH is building seven Medical Commission facilities, six of which will be integrated with SML health centres and hospitals.This will enhance prevention, convenience and continuity of care.
The SCH is building five SML health centres, and the PHCC is building 20 community and other health centres. These will increase access to tailored primary care services for remote populations. The SCH is also constructing three state-of-the-art SML hospitals co-located to SML centres for care continuity.
Furthermore, the SCH is building a 5-star behavioural disorder centre, a national reference laboratory, and two food testing branches.
The Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is building eight hospitals focusing on communicable diseases, rehabilitation, outpatient clinical procedures, psychiatry and obstetrics.These will centralise specialised services and minimise overnight hospitalisation.
The HMC is building 13 specialised facilities for paediatric therapy, blood donation, paediatric care, and outpatient services. These will relieve congestion and improve waiting times.
Another 13 housing, office, logistics and other support facilities are also being built by the HMC. Many of them will be located outside the main campus and will have temporary structures with flexible module designs. This will help free treatment space rapidly, and enhance patient access.
In addition, a number of renovations projects are underway  which include 19 health centre projects in health centres, 13 projects in hospitals, three projects in specialised facilities and nine renovation projects in support facilities. Thirteen health centre renovations are expected to complete one year earlier than planned.
As per the report, 12 new facilities were added in 2014 which include two Medical Commission facilities, one health centre, two hospitals, four specialised facilities, and three support facilities.


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