Mental healthcare services ‘continuing to expand’

Dr Majed al-Abdullah, senior consultant psychiatrist and deputy chair of Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Psychiatry Department, said the establishment of a new mental health clinic at Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Primary Health Care Centre is an example of ongoing efforts to facilitate easier access to specialist mental health services in the country.“HMC’s newly established mental health service at the QF clinic is providing important psychiatry and mental healthcare to students and employees on QF’s campus. For the past eight months, the clinic has received patients referred by the QF clinic and other QF affiliates,” said Dr al-Abdullah.Dr Rajeev Kumar, senior consultant psychiatrist and head of HMC’s mental health service at the QF clinic, said the new clinic provides mental health services to adult patients, aged 18 to 65 years.Around 200 patients have benefited from the services, which opened last June, HMC said in a statement recently.According to Dr Kumar, most of the patients treated at the clinic are experiencing anxiety, stress and depression.He said in addition to patient consultations, staff at the mental health clinic are providing training for the QF Clinic’s frontline staff as part of an initiative aimed at developing their mental health awareness skills.Dr Lamyaa BaniMurad, director of the QF Health Centre, said the partnership between HMC and QF is a response to the growing need for community-based psychiatry and mental healthcare services.Dr BaniMurad said both groups were committed to increasing access to specialist care.“Due to the stigma sometimes associated with psychological disorders and hospital-based care, some people requiring mental health services go without treatment. This new clinic has brought mental healthcare close to those who need it by providing a psychiatrist within our campus. We have received an extremely positive response from patients, with a satisfaction rate to date of over 95%. We plan to build on this success by opening more clinics of this type in the future,” said Dr BaniMurad.HMC is the primary provider of psychiatry services and mental healthcare in Qatar, delivering a range of inpatient and outpatient services for individuals with moderate to severe mental health challenges.HMC currently operates daily mental health clinics at Hamad General Hospital’s Outpatient Department.The clinics, which run from 7am to 3pm, Sunday through Thursday, manage non-complex psychiatric cases such as anxiety, stress, and depression, as well as cases of abdominal and joint pains associated with psychological disorders.As part of ongoing service expansion, work is under way to develop mental health clinics at the Qatar Metabolic Institute and Qatar Organ Donation Center.According to Dr al-Abdullah, demand for HMC’s mental health services is high and continues to rise.He said as part of efforts to improve the support available to patients with moderate to severe mental illness, a number of new specialised mental health clinics will open soon in a number of Primary Health Care Corp (PHCC) health centres.Dr al-Abdullah said the ongoing expansion of HMC’s mental health services is in line with the National Mental Health Strategy’s objective to design and build a comprehensive and integrated mental health system.He said these latest expansions are aligned with the National Mental Health Strategy and are a reflection of efforts to develop partnerships that facilitate easier access to mental healthcare in the community.“As part of ongoing expansion plans, specialised mental health clinics will be introduced at some PHCC health centres. Under this service, HMC and PHCC will work together, with HMC consultants diagnosing and managing many psychological disorders without referral to HMC facilities, unless hospitalisation is required,” added Dr al-Abdullah.According to Dr Samya al-Abdulla, senior consultant, Family Medicine, and executive director of operations at PHCC, the corporation screened approximately 335,000 adults for depression and anxiety in 2018 and treated more than 8,000 adults for a common mental illness.Dr Samya al-Abdulla said mental healthcare has been fully integrated into the routine clinical work at all 27 PHCC health centres and that the next phase of service development would see the introduction of HMC mental health services within all specialist PHCC health centres across Qatar.“The inclusion of specialist mental health services within PHCC’s regional health centres will support the national milestone of treating more patients in the community, bringing care closer to patient’s home in a non-stigmatising environment,” said Dr Samya al-Abdulla.During the past year, HMC’s mental health hospital underwent significant improvements, including facility and service expansions and refurbishments.As part of the expansion, 15 new doctors joined the acute care facility’s staff and 10 additional specialists are expected to join this year as part of efforts to increase the number of staff with mental health expertise.The facility receives 150 patients each day.The topic of ‘Whole Person Care: Aiming for better Physical and Mental Healthcare’ will be featured in a learning session at the upcoming Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare.The session will be jointly presented on March 23 by Dr Kumar, Dr Jassim Alsuwaidi, Dr Reem Alsulaiman, Dr Shahrad Taheri and Dr Samar al-Emadi.