The new 10,000sqm surgical services facility at the Hamad General Hospital will be operational within two to three weeks, an official disclosed on Sunday.

“Hopefully, we will be operational before Eid al-Fitr,” said Dr Abdulla al-Ansari, HMC’s deputy chief medical officer for surgical affairs.
HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani had inaugurated the facility last Thursday at a special ceremony attended by HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari and senior leaders from HMC.
“We will have to do the infection control check as well as several other necessary procedures. We check every room, every corridor and every place. If it is not alright, we will do it again," Dr al-Ansari explained.
Staff has already been trained. Simulations have been held on how patients have to be taken in and out,” explained Dr. al-Ansari.
The new facility features 20 ultramodern surgical theatres, a 19-bed Trauma Intensive Care Unit, a 15-bed Surgical Intensive Care Unit and three hybrid operating rooms that provide state-of-the-art real-time imaging through CT, MRI, Brain Lab and Artis Zeego imaging technology.
One of the operating theatres features the latest high-tech robotic surgery apparatus – the da Vinci Xi surgical robot, which HMC surgeons use to perform a variety of specialist and general surgeries.
The new surgical services facility aims to enhance the patient experience, including dynamic lighting in theatres to create a calming environment.The facility also includes a new parking area for 800 cars and a rooftop helipad for emergency transfer of patients to the hospital.
HE al-Kuwari said that "the new operating theatres truly transform and modernise the surgical environment at the country’s busiest academic hospital, providing the latest technologically advanced operating rooms and surgical equipment, as well as dynamic pre- and post- operative settings that emphasise patient safety and comfort.”
Dr al- Ansari pointed out that the operating theatres exceeded world standards for patient safety, surgical technology and equipment.
“Everything within the theatres and the trauma and surgical ICUs are of the highest world standards. We now have world-class surgeons operating in world-class settings,” said Dr. al-Ansari.
The HMC official highlighted that the new theatres have preventative anti-microbial measures, such as open scrub-in, barrier doors that seal off surgical units, advanced positive-negative air pressure technology, which all combine to protect the patients and staff from acquiring or transferring airborne microbes.
“The new Trauma Intensive and Surgical Intensive Care units are key components of the newly expanded facility and provide advanced post-operative care for surgical patients in superior healing environments. It will provide advanced care for trauma patients, including those with trauma to the chest or abdomen, with multiple fractures, and patients with severe head and spinal injuries,” commented Dr. Hassan al-Thani, head,Trauma and Vascular Surgery at HMC.
The new facility significantly expands HMC’s surgical services capacity and provides a bespoke complex in which HMC’s expert surgical teams can treat patients using the most technologically advanced equipment.The facility is situated adjacent to the large-scale Emergency Department re-development site currently under construction.