Participants of the course with officials.

Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has organised, in collaboration with the Qatari Centre of Social Cultural for the Deaf, a training course for PHCC staff from the Hayyak team on using sign language in preparation for the launch of new services targeted at the deaf and mute group.

The corporation will also provide intensive training for a number of receptionists and customer services employees on visual instant conversation techniques using sign language in the future, in line with a timeline set on the instructions of Dr Maryam Abdul Malik, managing director of PHCC.

Dr Mohamed al-Kilani, head of the Non-Clinical Training Department at PHCC, said: “This course stems from PHCC’s vision and mission, which aim to provide integrated and comprehensive services to all segments of the society by training PHCC staff to use sign language in order to be able to receive and communicate with people with disability.

“The PHCC Workforce Training Department is keen on delivering such courses, which are part of an integrated plan towards establishing a comprehensive staff development programme, in addition to raising awareness about the importance of effective communication with all stakeholders, especially those with disabilities, to meet their needs.

Amani Ibraheem, training co-ordinator at PHCC, added: “The training course’s duration is four hours a day, spread over a period of four days and attended by 40 employees from the Hayyak service divided into two groups.

“The first group attended the course from December 14 to 17 and the second group from December 21 to 24. The course covered topics such as specifications, standards and means of disability, with the ultimate goal of the course being to teach the Hayyak service staff how to use sign language in order to receive disabled people and communicate with them.”

One of the Hayyak employees demonstrated an example of providing help to a patient with hearing disability who fainted and felt dizzy. The Hayyak employee explained the patient’s case to the doctor and immediately interpreted the medical diagnosis provided by the doctor to the patient by using sign language. 

Representatives of the Qatari Centre of Social Cultural for the Deaf - board member Abdul Rahman al-Suwaidi and director of Public Relations Meshal Dad Allah - expressed satisfaction at the performance demonstrated by the trainees, which contributes to facilitating communication at health centres with people suffering from hearing disabilities.

The course concluded with the distribution of certificates of appreciation to participants and supervisers by the Workforce Training Department. In addition, the training instructors were honoured by PHCC as the corporation presented certificates of appreciation to lecturers Najee Mohamed Zakarneh and Maysam Bader.

 

 

 

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