A Qatari expert in the field of healthcare, Dr Mohamed G A al-Maadheed, shared his knowledge of establishing world-class facilities in a presentation to fellow professionals at the latest instalment of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar’s (WCM-Q) Grand Rounds.
Dr al-Maadheed has held many key leadership roles in the development of Qatar’s rapidly growing healthcare sector in the past two decades.
Among many other achievements, Dr al-Maadheed was instrumental in realising the vision to establish a state-of-the-art, purpose-built orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital in Qatar in his role as director general of Aspetar from 2003 to 2012, which attained international recognition when it was accredited as a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence in 2009.
Speaking at WCM-Q to an audience of physicians, researchers, students and healthcare professionals, Dr al-Maadheed explained the most effective strategies for setting up and managing healthcare facilities to achieve excellence in patient care and health outcomes.
In his presentation, entitled ‘Healthcare facilities: from a vision to recognition of excellence’, Dr al-Maadheed said: “How do we plan these long-term projects? Well, unfortunately there is no manual that you can simply follow step-by-step because in every case your environment and circumstances will be different.”
He explained: “The approach I have developed is to divide my project into three phases: a project phase, a commissioning phase and an operational phase. Now, the key point is that the structure of the organisation changes to meet the challenges of each successive phase, so the delivery vehicle adapts as the project develops.
“You must have this flexibility because otherwise, when the project moves forward, you will be left with an organisation that is set up to meet the previous set of challenges, which no longer exist.”
“Excellence in all projects is vital, but in healthcare it is even more important because there is such a strong moral dimension.
“In healthcare, as with humanitarian work, you must be absolutely dedicated to achieving 100% efficiency and effectiveness, because any less than this carries a risk that someone will be harmed,” he added.
Dr al-Maadheed was also the director general and project director of the Anti-Doping Lab Qatar, which was inaugurated in December 2012 and received World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) accreditation in 2015.