By Noimot Olayiwola

The number of nurses working in Hamad Medical Corporation may reach 20,000, more than double the present number, by the time new hospitals under constructions are ready, hospital’s nursing internship programme co-ordinator Charlotte al-Hader said yesterday.
She was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the event marking the occasion of International Nurses Day.
“There are approximately 10,000 nurses presently working in all HMC hospitals and we hope in future that this figure would reach over 20,000 by the time the new Sidra, Cardiac and Al Khor hospitals are opened to services,” she said.
Al-Hader, who is the programme co-ordinator for the HMC’s Staff Education and Research department, said plans are underway to make next year’s International Nurses Day a GCC-wide event.
“We are putting together a team to work on plans of hosting next year’s celebrations to be tagged GCC nursing day in March 2010 because it is our intention to hold an event that will be Arabic inclined,” she hinted.