Acting Head of the Intensive Care Department at the Hamad Medical Corporation, and Acting Medical Director for Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital Dr Ahmed Al Muhammad
Doha: Qatar has sufficient medical facilities and personnel to provide health care for the current numbers of people infected with Coronavirus (Covid-19) who need critical medical care and advanced respiratory treatment, assured Acting Head of the Intensive Care Department at the Hamad Medical Corporation, and Acting Medical Director for Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital Dr Ahmed Al Muhammad.
In a statement to Qatar News Agency, Dr. Al Muhammad also affirmed the readiness of the country's healthcare system to provide care for a high number of cases. He explained that at the end of last month, Hamad Medical Corporation designated the Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital as a facility for treating patients with Coronavirus (Covid-19) due to its advanced capabilities in terms of providing high-quality care for those infected by the virus and are in critical condition
The clinical capacity of this hospital has been increased to nearly three times its previous capacity as the number of beds has increased from 118 to 330 beds, with the possibility of increasing this number to 560 beds (for intensive and non-intensive care unit) using an attached field hospital that was created with this aim.
Dr Al-Muhammad pointed out that so far, more than 135 Covid-19 patients have been treated in the Intensive Care Unit of Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital, where more than half of these patients recovered or their health conditions improved and no longer needed critical health care as they were transferred either to the regular care departments or to the home-health isolation or quarantine facilities that were designated for this purpose.
He noted that the state's healthcare system managed to deal with all the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, thanks to the strategy for tracking the virus and to allocating enough capacity to provide good healthcare to all patients. He added that Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital is one of five facilities dedicated to treating COVID-19, with the hospital having more than 250 doctors in different specialties.
He stressed that all parts of the healthcare system in Qatar consolidated their efforts to prepare for the health crisis, noting the large amount of time dedicated to training people and managing resources to ensure the provision of the best service. He also said that Hamad Medical Corporation has contingency plans in case the number of people in need of intensive care rises.
He pointed out that many countries around the world were facing a difficult challenge in providing ventilators for patients, as these devices are necessary to keep patients in critical conditions suffering from Pneumonia alive. Despite that, he added, the healthcare sector and hospitals in the State of Qatar did not suffer from any shortage of these devices or in terms of the number of medical staff.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ahmed Al Muhammad stated that most of the (Covid-19) patients who received medical treatment in the intensive care department at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital so far are between the ages of 35 and 70 years, and many of them suffer from chronic diseases, especially high blood pressure.
He added that those with critical conditions stay in the intensive care department between two and three weeks, but patient who suffers from chronic diseases may need a longer time to recover from the infection with this virus, stressing that the State of Qatar will not witness a large numbers of deaths similar to other countries in the world, but he stressed the need for society to be aware that (Covid-19) is a dangerous virus and the importance of adhering to preventive measures against this virus, the most important of which is social distancing.
Dr. Al Muhammad added saying we affirm our readiness to provide care for people with critical conditions who are infected with this virus, we call for each of us to work on their sides to prevent the spread of the virus to avoid exposing health care services in hospitals, especially in intensive care departments, to severe pressure, although the terrifying scenarios that have occurred in many countries of the world do not necessarily mean that they may happen in our country, we must work together to combat this pandemic and put an end to its spread.
