According to a top official, Qatar expects to open six new public health centers this year, with a view to cope with the needs of an ever growing population.
Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) managing director Mariam Ali Abdulmalik said that some of the centers would be tendered out to be run by private operators.
The centers will be in Al Karana, Al Ghwaireya, Al Roda, Rawdat Al Khail, Al Ebb and Umm Salal and some would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Operating hours at some other centers had also had been extended to meet demand, she said.
PHCC is aiming to open 19 centers by the end of 2018.
Along with the centers a need for medical staff will increase and, according to Abdulmalik: “In 2014, 83 doctors with various specialties were hired which is an increase of 14.3% in the number of doctors in health centers compared to last year.”
Last November Qatar's Public Works Authority (Ashghal) awarded $290mn (QAR 1.08bn) worth of healthcare projects including the expansion of two hospitals in Doha and the construction of four new health centers, local media has reported. Expansion work will be carried out at Hamad General Hospital’s emergency department and Al Khor Hospital, with an additional 500 beds and the construction of a simulation center at Hamad Medical City to provide virtual surgical training to fresh medical graduates, it added.
The new healthcare centers will be built at Muaither, Al Wajbah, Al Waab and Al Jamiaa as part of the deals, said the report.
Al Waab and Al Jamiaa centers will be designed according to type B that comprises two basements, a ground floor and one upper floor.
Construction Week
7 January
