Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) signed contracts with a new group of Palestinian doctors approved for His Highness the Amir’s Scholarship Programme for postgraduate medical studies in Qatar and honoured the doctors who successfully completed their subspeciality programmes during 2025.
This initiative is part of Qatar’s ongoing support for the Palestinian people and the product of constructive and collaborative efforts made by QRCS, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Palestine’s Ministry of Health (MoH), and Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
Held at HMC’s Itqan Clinical Simulation and Innovation Centre, the ceremony was attended by Dr Mohamed Johar al-Mohamed, QRCS board member; Abdullah Hamed al-Mulla, QRCS board member; Ahmed Abdul-Rahman al-Mulla, QRCS board member; Faisal Mohamed al-Emadi, QRCS secretary-general; Fayez Majed Abu al-Rub, Palestinian ambassador to Qatar; Ali al-Janahi, acting assistant managing director of HMC; Dr Abdullah Rashid al-Naimi, deputy chief Medical Officer for Medical Education at HMC; Dr Yousef al-Maslamani, medical director of Hamad General Hospital; Hussain Aman al-Ali, assistant secretary-general for Volunteering and Local Development at QRCS; and Yousef Mohamed al-Awadi, chief ambassador of QRCS.
The programme is a long-term strategic initiative launched by QRCS in 2003, with the generous support of His Highness the Father Amir, to embody the State of Qatar’s vision of supporting the Palestinian people and building their capacity on a solid scientific and professional basis. It enables Palestinian doctors to complete their higher academic and clinical education in significant medical specialities, helping back Palestine’s health care system, enhance its institutional capacity, and meet the shortage in qualified medical professionals.
In a press statement, al-Emadi stated: “This programme provided Palestinian doctors with a valuable opportunity to engage with international medical expertise and acquire advanced skills, amid limited local health care resources and infrastructure. The doctors returning from Qatar were a great added value for health care services, ensuring better humanitarian and living conditions for Palestinian patients. Palestinian MoH’s hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank hire a select group of the programme graduates to run specialised medical departments”.
He said QRCS supported the returning doctors, particularly in Gaza, by creating a good work environment for them to practice their competencies, with high-tech medical equipment supplied for their departments. “Those doctors were among the medical professionals who continued to provide medical services during the recent war on Gaza,” added al-Emadi. “Until today, they have been fulfilling their professional and national responsibility with utmost dedication and heroic sacrifices.”
Dr al-Naimi said: “These generous scholarships represent a shining example of humanitarian support and investment in human capital. It reflects a genuine commitment to empowering Palestinian medical professionals, contributing to health care services for patients everywhere.”
He congratulated the scholarship winners and wished them successful training to prove their merits, pursue the journey of excellence and voluntary service, and strongly cherish the message of medicine and humanity.
Abu al-Rub highlighted the total destruction of all aspects of life in Gaza, under an awfully brutal war, a severe blockade of life-saving humanitarian and medical aid, and a harshly cold winter. He pointed to the killing and injury of thousands of Palestinian medical professionals, almost failing health sector, shortage of medical supplies, and increase number of injuries.
The Palestinian ambassador to Doha described the initiative as a true lifeline for the Palestinian people, a strategic investment in the future of Palestine’s health sector, and a boost to its resilience and recovery. He hopes the programme will be expanded to offer more scholarships, especially in such a critical situation, to ease the alarming shortage of specialised medical professionals and respond to the growing needs of the Palestinian people.
Throughout its lifetime, the programme covered 12 batches, with a total of 110 Palestinian doctors having pursued their specialised training in Qatar. Many of them have returned to their homeland to work at public and private-sector health institutions in the West Bank and Gaza, effectively helping localise medical services and improve the quality of health care provided for their people.