By Bonnie James/Deputy News Editor
Qatar University (QU) is open to launching medical education programmes if the country requires them, president Prof Sheikha Abdulla al-Misnad told Gulf Times yesterday.
“All options are open, depending on the needs of Qatar,” she explained on the sidelines of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
Prof al-Misnad was responding to a question whether QU would be willing to explore the possibility of jointly launching medical education programmes with HMC, including the MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree.
Currently, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) is the only institution offering pre-medical and medical programmes in the country.
The two-year pre-medical programme focuses on basic sciences relevant to medicine whereas the four-year medical programme follows the highly successful curriculum of WCMC in New York.
WCMC-Q has produced a total of 147 doctors, including the 35 who graduated in May this year, since the graduation of the inaugural class in 2008.
QU is one of the eight partners in the Academic Health System (AHS) in Qatar. The others are HMC, College of the North Atlantic - Qatar, Primary Health Care Corporation, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, University of Calgary - Qatar, Sidra Medical and Research Centre and WCMC-Q.
Academic health systems integrate research, education and clinical care in a unique manner to focus on improving patient care and delivering innovative healthcare solutions. The members of AHS are developing a nationwide academic health system in Qatar, a first within the Mena region.
According to the MoU signed yesterday, College of Pharmacy (CPH) is the first QU college to be involved in a cross-appointments system, featuring Corporate Academic Clinicians.
Three CPH faculty members, appointed as Academic Pharmacy Clinicians, will bring their expert academic and research capabilities into the clinical setting.
“QU always had a strong relationship with HMC and the partnership has grown fast over the past few years with Dr Hanan al-Kuwari taking over as managing director,” Prof al-Misnad pointed out.
The QU president also reiterated the national university’s commitment to further develop the relationship with HMC.
Dr al-Kuwari described HMC’s relationship with QU as “very special” and observed that the collaboration is an example of education and health partnerships in the country.
“This memorandum is an important milestone in our relationship with Qatar University and specifically in the development of our AHS partnership launched two years ago, and I am hoping that together we can achieve our jointly stated vision and objectives,” she said.
The HMC managing director explained that both the institutions are jointly invested and committed to improving healthcare outcomes for the people of Qatar and to the training and education of its future healthcare leaders.
“We will also focus on our research projects that strive to find solutions to the country’s most pressing healthcare challenges; this partnership, the implementation of cross-appointments for faculty, emphasises our joint commitment to advancing the education of health professionals in Qatar,” she added.