(MENAFN- Gulf Times) More than 30,000 staff members were recruited for various public health organisations in Qatar last year, reveals the SCH Annual Report 2014, published recently by the Supreme Council of Health ( SCH).
This is an increase of 16% since 2013 and 23% increase since 2012. This covers all new recruitment in SCH, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Primary Health Care Corporation ( PHCC) and Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners (QCHP) in 2014.
Qatarisation continued to be the focus of recruitment and retention. A third of new SCH and QCHP employees were Qatari nationals, with an SCH Qatarisation plan expected in 2015. The PHCC sponsored Qatari physicians for specialised fellowships and provided Qatari nursing leaders with a leadership programme.
According to the report, the increase has spanned six categories of workforce in the health sector. The number of physicians grew by 24% since 2013 in alignment with national physician projections and objectives.
Similarly, the number of nurses grew by 8% over the previous year. The growth was largely driven by HMC, in alignment with the HMC Nursing Strategy 2013-2015.
The report points out that the number of dentists grew by 3% since 2013 and the growth was driven by PHCC, in alignment with its goals for more primary care dentists for enhanced preventive dental services.
There has been an increase of 2% in the number of pharmacists and assistant pharmacists over 2013 in alignment with enhanced pharmacist goals.Similarly, the number of allied health professionals grew by 53% since 2013, the largest and fastest increase. This aligns with the national objectives for a more inter-disciplinary and efficient approach to care.
Finally, the number of non-medical professionals grew by 9% since 2013 in alignment with national goals for more regulatory and support staff.
Meanwhile, the QCHP has approved 2,344 new practitioner licences, with two thirds of them in the private sector. It conducted 25,851 key licensing processes, 46% more than in 2013. The growth was driven by improved systems resulting in processing times for licences and evaluations declining to 11 days against 25 day target.
The QCHP also introduced 22 new licensing scopes to steer expansion along priorities. It introduced the first provisional licences, issuing 542 by December 31 last year. This speeds up recruitment while permanent licences are under process. To uphold patient safety, provisional licences are issued to supervised roles, such as nurses.
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