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Victims of road traffic accidents (RTAs) and fall from height still form the bulk of patients seen on a daily basis at the Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Orthopaedic Department, Gulf Times has learnt.
In a month, the department receives and treats up to 8,000 patients with median age of 30-34 years having cases related to orthopaedic trauma and spinal injuries.
About 2,000-3,000 operations are also being conducted per year including orthopaedic trauma and elective sub-specialties.
“Orthopaedic department covers about eight to ten sub-specialties and the same number of clinics seeing up to 400 patients per day including ankle and foot, spinal surgery, muscular-surgery, paediatric surgery, sports arthroplasty, and pelvic and hips sub-specialties,” Orthopaedic, Pelvic and Hip Surgery consultant Dr Ghalib O Ahmed al-Kubaisi said.
He stated that the department is also covering orthopaedic surgery, which is majorly as a result of road traffic accidents, fall from heights or industrial injuries.
“Patients are mostly young, as they comprise labourers aged 30-34-years-old who usually suffer complex injuries due to fall from height or industrial accidents. This category of patients mostly requires treatments from all the sub-specialties in the Orthopaedic department,” he said.
He mentioned that patients are allowed to choose from two clinics both in the morning or evening.
“Before now, most of these complex cases under our sub-specialties will require travelling abroad for treatment, but now that we have the expertise and all the advanced equipment, there is no need for them to travel abroad,” he said.
There are presently a total of 16 consultants, 14 specialists, 30-35 residents under training and three clinical fellows, attending to patients at the department.
“We opened many new services in 2010 during which time we received many advanced instruments and equipment such as spinal endoscope and hip arthroscope which are first in Qatar. We also now have limp salvage procedure which prevents amputation in some cancer patients,” he explained.
“We also have foot and ankle arthroscope, an instrument for fixation and surgery of foot and ankle as well as paediatric orthopaedic surgery,” he added.
According to Dr al-Kuabisi, in the future, the department will receive the navigation system, especially for the spine, pelvic and some orthopaedic trauma, as well as some theatrical instrumentation in order to complete their service.
“Since 2010, we are updating our instruments to world-class standard. Previously, most patients preferred to go abroad for some of these spine surgeries, but since we acquired all these instruments, we have seen a significant change in that trend as most patients now avail our services,” he stated.
He mentioned that regular visits by specialists from abroad have helped the department to manage difficult and complex cases in different sub-specialties.
“By doing this, we are preventing patients from travelling abroad for treatment while at the same time acquiring knowledge from the specialists who help in training our staff,” he added.
However, he mentioned that a handful of patients are still insisting on travelling to foreign countries despite the high quality of medical services available locally.
