(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Fazeena Saleem / The Peninsula
Doha: Hamad Medical Corporation's Al Wakrah Hospital, the country's second busiest hospital is set to increase its bed capacity by 10 percent in 2020 to meet the growing demand.
The hospital will also have a dedicated facility for children in need of long-term care next year as well as a cath lab for patients with cardiac problems as part of the ongoing expansion plan, said Dr Sabah Alkadhi, Medical Director of Al Wakrah Hospital.
Al Wakrah Hospital provides comprehensive, high quality healthcare to people of all ages, from emergency care to general medicine and surgery and highly specialized treatments and mainly cater for people in the southern part of the country.
The hospital sees around 1,500 out patients per day and between 900-1000 emergency cases daily (Adult, Pediatric and Women Emergency). On an average, about 1,250 people seek inpatient services in a month. During the last two years, Al Wakrah Hospital has seen over a 15 percent increase in patient volume with a total of 699,496 patient visits in 2018, compared to 605,924 in 2016 with over 280,000 outpatient and more than 355,000 Emergency Department visits in 2018.
At present the Al Wakrah Hospital has 288 inpatient beds, more than 200 of which are for general and acute patients and 87 of which are reserved for critical care, high dependency, and burns patients. An additional 77 beds for observation and day care patients. Approximately 25 percent of the beds are in single occupancy rooms, according to Dr Alkadhi.
The hospital has 10 operating theatres (major, minor and burns) and three theatres for endoscopic procedures. Also, the National Burn Unit is situated at the Al Wakrah Hospital. It provides emergency, acute and surgical care to burn cases from all over the country with dedicated space, equipment and facilities.
'As part of the ongoing expansion plans, the bed capacity of the hospital will increase by 10 percent by next year. Also Al Maha — a pediatric long-term rehabilitation centre — is under construction with 60 inpatient beds and dedicated facilities. It will provide outstanding inpatient and outpatient pediatric rehabilitation and child wellness services, Dr Alkadhi told The Peninsula. He was joined by Charlotte Emily May Hamilton, Assistant Executive Director, Business Development at the Al Wakrah Hospital.
About 6,000 children were born at the Al Wakrah Hospital in 2018 and as part of introducing new services, a desk to register births and deaths will open soon to make the paper work easy for family members.
Future plans include the commissioning of a new CT scan, and new MRI machine, the establishment of a Center of Excellence for Stone Treatment and for Bariatric Surgery.
The recent additions include a robotic surgery service for general surgery and urology, Qatar's only dedicated Hernia Surgery Center, the country's first of its kind specialized dental clinic for individuals with special needs, and countrywide collaborative dermatology, dentistry, diabetes, neurology, mental health, and cardiology services.
'We work together with the Heart Hospital very closely. We do the diagnostic part with patients then they are sent to Heart Hospital for interventions and return to Al Wakra Hospital for recovery. About 130 patients have already benefited from this and we hope to open a new cath lab soon, said Dr Alkadhi.
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