Stroke patients needing long-term rehabilitative care will directly benefit from Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) ground-breaking Qatar Rehabilitation Institute (QRI), due to open in the near future in Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City.
QRI will provide world class integrated rehabilitation services, including specialist care for patients recovering from stroke.
The opening of QRI, is part of a major expansion programme which will see seven new hospitals, open in Qatar over the next 18 months.
 The new hospitals will create more than 1,100 new hospital beds between now and the end of December 2017.
“The QRI will provide care that is fundamentally different from any other hospital or rehabilitation setting in the region. Once fully operational, the institute will set the standard for stroke treatment,” explained Dr Wafaa al-Yazeedi, acting chairperson of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department at Rumailah Hospital.
“From the modern, well-equipped inpatient units designed exclusively for the care and comfort of stroke injury rehabilitation patients, to the extensive team of physicians, nurses, therapists, and others who specialise in stroke injury rehabilitation, QRI will uniquely combine the most advanced treatments and therapies that will help each individual patient’s recovery as fully as possible,” Dr al-Yazeedi explained.
Due to the prevalence of risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, the incidence of stroke is high in Qatar.
Currently, more than 1,000 acute stroke patients are admitted to HMC each year, with many of them requiring long-term rehabilitative care to recover.
“By providing 193 beds dedicated solely to rehabilitation, the QRI will significantly expand our capacity to care for recovering patients. This expansion, combined with the most modern rehabilitation facilities in the region, including seven hydrotherapy pools and 10 exercise rooms, will provide patients with faster access to rehabilitative care,” noted Dr al-Yazeedi.
“Acute strokes often damage critical parts of the brain that control muscle strength, movement and co-ordination. When the blood supply to the brain is suddenly cut off due to an acute stroke, damage to these areas of the brain can lead to a loss of function and co-ordination in various parts of the body,” explained professor Ashfaq Shuaib, director of HMC’s Neurosciences Institute.
The primary aim of stroke rehabilitation is to enable the patient to relearn the motor skills they have lost due to the stroke.
The QRI’s expert team of clinicians and researchers will work together to set individual patient goals, overcome challenges, and find innovative solutions that noticeably improve patient recovery.
“At the QRI, we will offer ground-breaking therapies to help our stroke patients recover their lost skills. These will be provided by our teams who are trained extensively in assisted therapy to enhance the relearning of speech, hearing and reading,” added Dr al-Yazeedi.
Personalised care and access to specialised multi-disciplinary teams in a single location will have a tremendous impact on the delivery of care for stroke patients.  
Dr Gisli Einarsson, CEO of the new QRI said: “Care will be tailored to each individual patient using personalised therapy programmes and the most modern rehabilitative services. Patients will play an active role in their care plan and will know exactly what treatments they will receive from day one of their arrival at QRI.
This will have a significant impact on improving the lives of our patients.”
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