Doha, 21 April 2026: The National Mental Health Helpline (NMHH) at Hamad Medical Corporation is marking its 6th anniversary and has had a further year of growth and success. The service is the primary point of access for mental health support in Qatar, offering a fully confidential, rapid response service to support anyone needing professional mental health support, irrespective of age, gender, background or nationality. Experienced mental health professionals including nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists and allied health professionals, are on hand to offer confidential, specialized mental health support to all callers.
The Helpline answered 19,238 in 2025, highlighting the need for accessible mental health support across Qatar. The Helpline receives high levels of patient satisfaction, through an anonymous survey of users, with 90% of those surveyed being fully satisfied with the service they received.
The Helpline Triage Team (HTT) of experienced mental health nurses have guided more than 12,700 callers to appropriate support, ranging from family support and individual psychological support to enquiries and appointments, while the psychology team has ensured rapid access to talking-therapy for nearly 1,400 new patients. 4225 calls were answered by the rapid intervention team and those callers have been directed to have specialist psychiatric intervention and medication. 692 were answered by the pharmacy team. Additionally, 221 calls were handled across various service categories.
This rapid intervention service has been able to respond to early signs of relapse, review of treatment and to stabilize any potential crisis, preventing more than 400 patients attending Emergency Departments.
As part of its extended function, the Helpline has established a comprehensive triage and assessment service for people referred to Psychiatry and/or Psychology Clinics. This service ensures that patients who require help are directed to the most appropriate clinic in a timely manner. The specialist woman’s service has provided quick, confidential access and support to women who may find it difficult to access care. This service has provided rapid access to specialist mental health support and treatment.
Contacting the Helpline is simple. Call 16000 and choose option 4 for Mental Health. The Helpline is available from 8am to 6pm Saturday to Thursday.
