Qatar Strengthens Healthcare System With Prevention At Core

Doha, Qatar: Recent data and studies reflect Qatar's ongoing efforts to strengthen its healthcare system with prevention at its core.

As the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) continues to deliver millions of consultations in family and preventive medicine, Qatar is shaping a model where early detection, healthy lifestyles, and continuous care anchor the nation's well-being.

At the heart of this transformation is PHCC, whose network of health centers has become the first point of contact for the public. Family physicians there are not only treating illness but also guiding patients through screenings, vaccinations, and lifestyle changes that can prevent disease before it begins.

The numbers speak volumes. According to date published by PHCC, more than 5.17 million patient visits were recorded in 2024. More than 61% of all PHCC patient visits, a remarkable 3.1 million consultations, were for family medicine.

Among them 3,058,569 visits were routine consultations, but tens of thousands sought care for maternal health, chronic disease management, and complex cases.

Preventive health visits accounted for a further 14% (732,792), with school clinics, well-baby checks, wellness screenings, and even smoking cessation services seeing steady demand.

These figures underscore how family medicine and prevention have become the backbone of Qatar's healthcare delivery and how the system is gradually shifting from treating disease to preventing it.

That shift is also being debated at the professional level. A study published in the Qatar Journal of Public Health argues that the country's long-standing reliance on 'community medicine' as a specialty no longer reflects the demands of modern healthcare.

Community medicine, while vital in shaping Qatar's early public health programmes, is largely population-focused.

Preventive medicine, by contrast, integrates clinical and public health measures, extending prevention efforts from individuals in the clinic to policies that affect entire populations.

According to the study titled“Bridging the terminology gap: rebranding community medicine as preventive medicine in Qatar”, since 2003, more than 70 specialists have been trained in community medicine under Qatar's residency programme. But the study notes a mismatch: while training has shifted toward international preventive medicine standards, certification still follows the Arab Board's community medicine framework. The authors call for rebranding the specialty as“preventive medicine” to better align with national health priorities.

Such a change, they argue, would do more than update terminology. It would clarify professional roles, strengthen links between education and practice, and unlock stronger policy and funding support for prevention.

Qatar's ambition to put prevention first also depends on inspiring the next generation of doctors. The study, 'Shaping the future of primary healthcare: Factors influencing medical students' preference for family medicine specialty in Qatar' published in the National Library of Medicine, explored what drives medical students in Qatar to choose family medicine as a career.

Surveying 262 students in 2023, researchers found that surgery remained the most popular specialty, followed by internal medicine and paediatrics. Family medicine ranked lower - but interest grew significantly among students who had personal connections to the field or were in the clinical phase of training.

The findings suggest that mentorship and early exposure could play a decisive role in attracting more students into family medicine, a specialty critical to meeting the country's long-term healthcare needs.

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