Qatar- QCS reaches out to over 140,000 people in 2020

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) through a variety of programmes reached out to more than 140,000 people during 2020, a QCS official said. "The programmes reached many living with cancer as well as healthcare professionals and others directly as well as through social media platforms, said Dr Hadi Mohamed Abu Rasheed, head, Professional Development and Scientific Research Department, QCS at a webinar organised by the Ministry of Public health recently.
'As for financial assistance to cancer patients, QCS in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation and Sidra Medicine, has assisted 1,300 patients with almost QR20mn, Dr Abu Rasheed said. The official noted that with agile leadership and the early activation of a management plan and its official transformation, QCS was able to reach the cancer patients and healthcare workers more than what was planned for 2020 despite the pandemic of Covid-19.
'We were also able to provide financial assistance without any delay. With the social distancing policies due to the pandemic, we activated our social media platforms and made our awareness and educational programmes virtual and social media friendly and started using interactive programmes such as webinars, podcasts or healthcare challenges at home, Dr Abu Rasheed said.
'We digitally transformed our communication channels and changed our teamwork dynamics to be agile. We even increased the autonomy of the teams and programme leaders. We followed intensive micro skills for ourselves to adapt to the new mode of working, the official said.
According to him, the year 2020 has taught the organisation that agile leadership and digital transformation are essential in increasing the reach and impact of cancer awareness activities for better patient support services.
'One of our plans for 2021 is to continue the innovative digital transformation of awareness programmes and measure the effectiveness of those activities in comparison to our traditional methods before the pandemic. We are going to invest more in reaching out to the behavioural modification of the public through social media platforms, he said.
Dr Abu Rasheed also stressed that cancer patients were assisted through various modes. 'It is difficult for them to be alone. To make them engaged, we started our WhatsApp broadcast groups in addition to virtual support groups and webinars to provide psychotherapy support. All our programmes focused on supporting and motivating people to have a healthy lifestyle. We sent out the health awareness messages to coincide with the time of the release of the daily Covid-19 statistics as more people are online waiting for daily updates. This made the messages reach a wide range of people, he said.
'During the pandemic, we increased our reach through national networks and digital platforms. A lot people came to support us including academics and we benefited a lot from the collaboration as they shared a lot of knowledge and experience. This was one of the silverlines during the pandemic, he added.    

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