It was designed by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) in accordance with the principles of Qatar National Vision 2030 and Qatar National Health Strategy 2011-2016.
Eight goals are marked in the strategy. They are health promotion; screening; urgent care; chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs); home care; mental health; and maternal, newborn, children and adolescents.
Divided into seven chapters, the strategy document looks at Qatar’s major health needs and how they could be met.
Tied to the strategy are some 10 pledges made by the PHCC: among them are the commitment to publish annual reports showing how they are assessing and meeting patients’ needs and to provide continuity of care by ensuring that all patients have a doctor they can see regularly.
PHCC looks at screening as a tool to prevent diseases by early detection and aims at offering home-care services for the elderly by 2014-2015.
Health centres have the goal to give quality customer services in a safe environment, with qualified practitioners, automated systems and improved professional approach.
HE the Minister of Health Abdullah bin Khalid al-Qahtani received a copy of the strategy document at the launch event at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
“The national strategy aims to improve the quality of care for patients, minimise waiting times, reduce referral time and, alongside that, introduce an effective appointment system,” al-Qahtani, who is also the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Health, said in his opening address. “This will ensure not only greater efficiency but also greater attention for patients’ individual needs.”
He stated that the PHCC’s establishment as a free-standing corporation in 2012 had given it the status it deserved as a major part of Qatar’s health system. He observed that the main public provider of public health in Qatar had far too long been the weak link in Qatar’s health system and that the country currently devoted a smaller proportion of its health budget to primary health centres than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average.
“We will seek to change this by increasing funding for primary healthcare in the short term to support the implementation of this strategy and in the longer term by ensuring that social health insurance recognises and rewards the importance of primary healthcare,” he said.
