As part of expanding the Emergency Department at the Hamad General Hospital (HGH), work has already started on a new station which is expected to be completed in 2018, a senior official has said.
Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of the International Conference in Emergency Medicine and Public Health, Sheikh Dr. Hassan bin Ali al-Thani, head of Trauma and Vascular Surgery Section, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) said that the new station that is currently in the developmental stages, will add more capacity and facilities to the existing ones.
Dr Hassan explained: “It is a three-storey building with more space and resuscitation units. It will take a few years to complete.We expect that it would be operational by 2018 but a lot depends on several factors and we cannot give an exact time period for the opening of the new facility. However, the work has already started.”
He pointed out: “The emergency department at the HGH is one of the busiest in the world. Last year, the HGH emergency department treated over a million patients. We witnessed over 20% increase in the emergency department visits last year as each year we witness a steady increase in the number of patients. It also included around 45,000 paediatric emergency cases.This is in addition to the visits to the paediatric emergency centres.”
According to Sheikh Dr. Hassan al-Thani, HGH has taken several measures to increase the capacity of the emergency department. "The day care facility at the department has been converted to the emergency department as well as the dialysis unit has also been brought under the department's area.”
“We expect the primary health centres to treat minor emergency conditions, so that it will decrease the pressure on HGH emergency department. Satellite emergency departments have been opened at the health centres. Similarly, the hospitals meant for the single workers that will be opened in different parts of the country, will also help to reduce the burden on the emergency department at the HGH,” he felt.
Dr Hassan noted that HGH was built to cater to the medical needs of a population of half a million. “ Now the population is five times higher. In terms of capacity, we are coping with the situation. But we expect that the new facilities and the satellite centres will be able to take care of the minor cases and thereby streamline the whole situation.”
Dr Hassan maintained that the HGH emergency department was an essential part of Qatar’s healthcare network by providing efficient, high quality, evidence based care to each and every patient. “Right from the ambulance service paramedics to our emergency department nurses and our trauma resuscitation unit consultants, our emergency care clinicians play an instrumental role in ensuring the right level of care for the patients,” he highlighted.
Sheikh Dr. Hassan bin Ali al-Thani
