*Ministry's strategic plan presented before Cabinet
Establishing a national framework for school health and developing a comprehensive national model for providing paediatric services are among the goals of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Cabinet was told on Wednesday.
This came at the Cabinet's regular meeting held at its seat at the Amiri Diwan, chaired by HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani.
Following the meeting, HE the Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Dr Issa bin Saad al-Jafali al-Nuaimi issued a statement giving details of the proceedings.
HE the Minister of Public Health Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari presented the ministry's strategic plan at the meeting, "in line with the directives of HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior regarding the Cabinet's plans to present key performance indicators (KPIs) for different public organisations and institutions, including all programmes, their timeline and KPIs, in accordance with Qatar National Vision 2030 and including public private partnerships", Qatar News Agency (QNA) said in a report.
The main goal of the MoPH's strategy is to improve the health of people living in Qatar, meet the needs of the current and future generations through a comprehensive healthcare system that leads to better health, care and value for everyone, the report states.
The ministry's intermediate goals and related projects are as follows:
* Healthy children and teenagers: enhancing and expanding protection to improve oral and dental health for children; accrediting child-friendly hospital from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Unicef; improving all epidemiological data and monitoring health indicators; establishing a national framework for school health; and putting in place a comprehensive national model for providing paediatric services.
* Healthy women for a healthy pregnancy: improving all epidemiological data and monitoring health indicators, including death rates of mothers and the main diseases leading to it; designing and implementing a model for maternity care services; designing and implementing an effective governance mechanism for artificial insemination; implementing midwifery services; and limiting the number of caesarean births and the health complications they lead to.
* Healthy and safe workers: establishing an information and data management system for occupational injuries, evaluating the health conditions of all workers, and performing occupational health services; putting in place and implementing a national policy for vocational health and safety in all sectors; establishing effective programmes for health at the workplace, which seek to enhance physical and mental health while limiting workplace hazards; improving the knowledge management methodology and following the best practice in the field of occupational health for the clinical workforce; and putting in place a plan to provide healthcare services that meet the special demands of labour and artisanal workers.
* Mental health and wellness: improving epidemiological data on mental health; raising public awareness on mental health and reducing stigma associated with mental illness; providing integrated mental health services; strengthening mental health services provided to inpatients; developing new services that meet the needs of prison inmates suffering from psychological conditions; and application of the Mental Health Law.
* Improved health for people suffering from multiple chronic diseases: understanding the epidemiology of multiple chronic conditions and creating a record of them; empowering people with multiple chronic conditions with the knowledge and skills to help them care for themselves; promoting continuity and co-ordination of care; applying clinical guidelines that help standardise high-quality healthcare; and identifying and treating factors that lead to hospital readmission for people with multiple chronic conditions.
* Enhanced health and well-being for people with disabilities and special needs: promoting data collection of internationally comparable persons with disabilities; removing barriers and improving access to health services and programmes; and strengthening and expanding rehabilitation services, assistive technology, support services and community rehabilitation.
* Healthy ageing: conducting surveys to understand diseases affecting the elderly population; promoting health awareness; providing services and programmes that promote active healthy ageing and improve mobility of the elderly; providing integrated healthcare for the elderly through the health system, including community services and long-term care; developing co-ordinated and integrated home care services at the national level; and monitoring and meet the needs of people with cognitive disabilities.
* An integrated system to provide high-quality healthcare and services: establishing primary care services as the gateway to the first and continuous entry into the health system to adequately meet most healthcare needs by adopting a family medicine model; establishing and strengthening integrated care programmes at all levels of the health system; efficiency and effectiveness of the health system through providing integrated care; and a high-value integrated care system in line with the principles of responsible care.
* Enhanced health and prevention of diseases: collecting data by conducting national and international surveys in priority health areas; and health awareness and education programmes for priority health areas.
* Enhanced health protection: implementing the national emergency preparedness and response plan and developing a comprehensive methodology for its management and speed of response; strengthening efforts against transmissible diseases in order to protect health; implementing a national action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance; improving the monitoring and regulation of environmental health risks; promoting and co-ordinating policies and legislation of food safety; and developing a national drug security system.
* Integrated health in all policies: awareness of the healthy cities approach in Qatar and its implementation based on the standards and requirements of the WHO; establishing a policy and developing the necessary skills to carry out inter-sector health impact assessment based on needs; promoting and implementing health in all policies as a common approach between State sectors in areas of priority; and creating, strengthening and implementing strong legal frameworks to protect, promote and support healthy nutrition.
* Effective system of governance and leadership: enhancing quality of care and patient safety; strengthening the health workforce planning, education, training and licensing system, as well as designing and implementing recruitment and retention programmes; promoting and supporting the private sector to invest in the provision of healthcare services; establishing a national knowledge platform supported by a national data storage infrastructure, managed by the MoPH, with the aim of enhancing data accuracy and exchange; establishing a proactive mechanism to improve active information system, and adopting new digital health solutions to improve health outcomes and service provision; and strengthening the framework to support the provision of high-quality health services.
