Doha 24 February, 2024: Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, today praised the positive and transformative effect the Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare has had on Qatar’s healthcare landscape.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 10th Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare at the Qatar National Convention Center, Her Excellency said today we celebrate a decade of an inspiring, innovative and transformative collaboration between Hamad Medical Corporation and the Institute for Health Care Improvement (Boston) that has transcended borders and systems and that has connected thousands of healthcare leaders and practitioners from across the world with the singular aim of improving quality and safety for our patients and our healthcare workers.
“Today we celebrate our commitment to excellence and our wonderful journey which has led Qatar to being recognized as a global benchmark for excellence and innovation. But more importantly today we re-affirm our unwavering ambition to deliver the best care possible for every patient, every time,” explained H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari.
Her Excellency said: “Today we imagine together a future world where patient quality and safety always comes first and where the triple aim of better care, better health, and better cost are in balance resulting in healthier populations and a health workforce which works with joy.
Our partnership with the IHI was established in 2013 and born out of the aspirations of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the first National Development Strategy (2011-2016) set by His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar and the guiding principles of Qatar’s first National Health Strategy (2011-2016) developed and launched by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, in her capacity as chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Supreme Council of Health and Vice Chairperson of the Supreme Committee of Health at that time.”
“Allow me here to, on behalf all the health sector, express our deep gratitude and appreciation to Her Highness for her vision and leadership in shaping the fields of health, education and research in Qatar.”
Her Excellency explained that during the past 10 years of the Middle East Forum, Qatar’s healthcare system has undergone a remarkable transformation journey. “When most countries are used to steady growth we have witnessed a phenomenal expansion in the health sector to match our population’s need and our country’s ambitions and plans. Our public and private sector beds have nearly doubled, and we have seen the addition of Sidra Medicine in 2016 and the Military Medical City Hospital in 2024. Our Primary Health Care Corporation opened 13 new state-of-the-art health and wellness centers, significantly improving primary care provision in the community.”
“In 2023, Qatar had 5 hospitals rank among the top 250 academic medical centers in the world with 2 achieving top 100 ranking highlighting our commitment to combining patient care, medical research, and health education to achieve the best outcomes and experiences for our patients.”
Commenting on the health sector’s COVID-19 efforts, Her Excellency said: “During Covid-19 our whole of government approach, the strength and resilience of our health systems and our wonderful health care workers ensured that we had one of the lowest case fatality rates in the world and had close to zero hospital acquired Covid infections to patients and staff. These efforts have been recognized globally ranking Qatar’s Covid response amongst the best in the world.”
H.E Dr. Al Kuwari also recognized the healthcare sector’s support for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. “During the World Cup 2022, our state-of-the-art health services, our public health initiatives in collaboration with the World Health Organization and our healthy cities accredited country made the Qatar 2022 World Cup one of the most healthy World Cups in history despite being at the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“As we close our 2nd National Health Strategy (2018-2024) which delivered positive changes to our patients we look forward to launching our 3rd National Health Strategy later this year which will elaborate on the health targets set by the Third Qatar National Development Strategy (2024-2030) towards realizing the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
Her Excellency said: “When we launched this Forum and the Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute with the IHI 10 years ago we aimed for it to become a premier regional hub for health care improvement. Our training and improvement programs now cover the whole sector in Qatar, with more than 9 private sector hospitals participating in the improvement training and practical programs in 2023. We have localized the online courses and are providing these in Arabic to make it accessible to all Arabic countries and are currently establishing training opportunities and partnerships for health providers within the MENA region.”
“You will agree with me that the one constant in healthcare is change. So, if we stand still - we are actually going backwards. Let’s charge together into the future armed with the relentless desire to provide our patients and our communities with the best care, always. Let’s collaborate across borders to learn and teach the skills of health improvement so that no one is left behind. Again, congratulations on a decade of commitment to excellence, to learning and to collaborating,” Her Excellency concluded.
The opening ceremony also featured addresses from Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at HMC, and co-chair of the Forum, and Kedar Mate, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, who both highlighted the importance of a sustained commitment to quality and safety in healthcare to deliver the best patient outcomes.
For more information please visit hamad.qa/MEF2024
