*MoPH: 23 staff members injured in incident at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital
The Ministry of Public Health said that a storm with 72km per hour winds and heavy rain caused two expansion tents at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital (HMGH) to collapse.
The tents were part of the hospital's expansion to support patients with Covid-19. No other part of the Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital was damaged in the storm, it added.
All patients were immediately transferred from the expansion area and no patient sustained injuries, the ministry said, adding that in the process of safeguarding and transferring patients, 23 members of the staff were injured. Most injuries were minor and the injured staff are receiving medical care.
Members of Hamad Medical Corporation's System-Wide Incident Command Committee responded at once and co-ordinated the response.
HMGH executive director Hussein Ishaq said: "We take today's incident very seriously and we are investigating what happened. I want to express my appreciation to all the HMGH staff who heroically helped ensure that no patients were injured and were safely transferred to other hospitals to continue receiving care."
Patients being treated for Covid-19 at HMGH have been transferred to the Ras Laffan hospital, a designated Covid-19 hospital.
The Ministry of Public Health said it takes the safety and wellbeing of patients and staff very seriously and have commenced a full investigation into the incident.
It added that the incident will not impact Hamad Medical Corporation's overall bed and service response to Covid-19 as a significant surplus of beds have been planned for treating the pandemic.
