His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani officially inaugurated Monday Hamad Medical Corporation's new Trauma and Emergency Center, one of the largest in the region, along with Qatar’s first Hyperbaric Therapy Unit.
The inauguration was attended by HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari, other dignitaries and a number of senior doctors and officials at HMC.
His Highness the Amir toured the facilities, and was briefed on the medical facilities linking the new building with the relevant departments at Hamad General Hospital (HGH).
The Hyperbaric Therapy Unit houses a cutting-edge hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, that can hold up to 18 people and provides oxygen therapy for a range of medical conditions as well as decompression treatment for diving accidents.
The new centre marks a significant expansion of trauma and emergency services in Qatar. In addition to a new Emergency Department, it also offers trauma, urgent, and critical care services and features a dedicated ramp for ambulance arrivals at HGH.
HE the Minister of Public Health described the opening of the new centre as an important milestone in the provision of emergency and trauma care in Qatar.
“The inauguration of the new Trauma and Emergency Center underlines our ongoing commitment to expanding capacity and improving services. This commitment will ensure that the people of Qatar will continue to receive the best possible care delivered in leading-edge facilities, now and for many years to come. As well as offering the best possible treatment and care, the new Trauma and Emergency Center - at four times the size of the former Emergency Department - also offers a greatly improved patient experience. This new facility will serve as a beacon of excellence in our network of emergency services,” HE Dr al-Kuwari explained.
Hamad al-Khalifa, chief of Healthcare Facilities, also highlighted HMC’s commitment to delivering high-quality trauma and emergency care in Qatar and highlighted the improved patient environment within the new Trauma and Emergency Center.
He said: “Patients have an unparalleled level of comfort. They can recover in a state-of-the-art healing environment, improving their recovery journey and the healthcare experience for both themselves and their family.”
Dr Abdulla al-Ansari, acting chief medical officer at HMC drew particular attention to the key role of clinical teams at the new Trauma and Emergency Center in meeting Qatar’s emergency and trauma care needs.
“Not only does the new centre offer a spacious healing environment equipped with the latest technology, but it also benefits from the delivery of care by the very best doctors, nurses, and other clinical staff. These highly trained professionals have been recruited from across the globe and have spent many months preparing for the opening through a number of simulation exercises. Their experience and expertise, coupled with our state-of-the-art facility and ultra-modern equipment, will ensure the best possible care experience.
“Those in need of urgent medical care can be received and treated through the Emergency Department on the ground floor and we also have trauma, urgent, and critical care facilities available across the remaining three floors, which house state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, including an MRI, ultrasound, and three CT scanners. Our patients will also benefit from a threefold increase in X-ray capacity, compared to the former Emergency Department.”
Dr al-Ansari said walk-in patients arriving at the new centre’s Emergency Department will be triaged and after initial assessment and treatment will either be admitted to the hospital or discharged. To further boost capacity, the See and Treat area of the former Emergency Department will also remain open.
The new centre will also expand and improve upon HMC’s capacity to care for patients in need of trauma care with the first floor housing the Hamad Trauma Center, Qatar’s major trauma facility. Receiving around 2,000 cases annually, it provides care to people with serious injuries from across Qatar. Its location within the new Trauma and Emergency Center means that patients arriving by ambulance, or helicopter, via the helipad on the adjacent surgical service facility, are now able to speedily access trauma services for immediate care, resuscitation, and stabilisation.
The facility also benefits from five trauma and emergency rooms which are fully equipped to be converted into mini operating theatres in the event of a mass casualty incident or an accident requiring immediate surgical intervention. Patients can then be rapidly and seamlessly transferred from there to the Trauma or Surgical Intensive Care Units as well as the operating theaters at Hamad General Hospital via the link bridge on the first floor.
While the ground floor of the new Trauma and Emergency Center is dedicated to walk-in emergencies and the first floor to critical and trauma care patients, the second floor is dedicated to urgent care patients, whilst the third floor has been designed to care for patients requiring isolation or monitoring before being discharged.
The state-of-the-art Trauma and Emergency Center at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) was officially opened today along with Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) new Hyperbaric Therapy Unit, which houses a cutting-edge hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, the first of its kind in Qatar. pic.twitter.com/m7AXtADeP7
— مؤسسة حمد الطبية (@HMC_Qatar) September 9, 2019
