Qatar aims to get accredited by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in vaccine management, an official of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) announced yesterday.
Dr Hamad Eid al-Rumaihi, director of health protection and communicable diseases, was addressing a training workshop for vaccine management for the healthcare professionals in the country.
“Our aim is to get accreditation from WHO for safe and qualified vaccination. As many as 14 vaccines are available in Qatar and the country has recently set up a very comprehensive travel clinic,” he explained.
“The travel clinic at the Communicable Disease Center provides pre-travel guidance as well as post-travel assistance. People can avail the service through appointment and it provides very comprehensive assistance for people,” Dr al-Rumaihi pointed out.
MoPH has organised the three-day workshop for effective vaccine management. About 32 healthcare professionals from MoPH, Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, Qatar Petroleum and Sidra Medical and Research Centre are participating. The training is provided by vaccine management training centre in Oman and experts from Kuwait and Oman are taking part.
“This is the World Immunisation Week and the theme for the week is ‘Vaccine Works’. Effective vaccine management is one of the strategies in the new national health strategy. Our ultimate goal is to ensure effective and safe vaccine for everyone. Therefore, we are training the healthcare people towards this goal,” Dr al-Rumaihi said.
“Vaccine management is not only the administering of the vaccine. It includes effective delivery and storage of the vaccine. Similarly, proper forecasting of vaccination and its stock management are also important,” he noted.
Soha al-Bayat , head of vaccination at MoPH, said that various healthcare professionals in the country have come together to discuss the vaccine management programme.
“All the healthcare workers in the country are up to date about vaccine management to ensure safe handling of the vaccine right from the time it arrives in the country to reaching the health facility and to the pharmacy and to the clinicians. It also provides tips to identify the vaccine whether it is spoiled or not,” she noted.
Dr Hamad Eid al-Rumaihi
