Largescale sporting and other events held in Doha recently have demonstrated the healthcare sector’s preparedness to handle mass gatherings- a recent research report has revealed.
In recent years Qatar has hosted an increasing number of largescale events which attract tens of thousands of people to one location.
The study on ‘Value of project management during a crisis: Successes and lessons from three large projects in Qatar,’ has highlighted that as mass gathering events in general have the potential to strain health systems, Qatar has placed great emphasis on ensuring the healthcare sector as a whole and is fully prepared and able to appropriately respond.
The study evaluated COVID-19 screening for the H H Amir Cup, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Finals 2020, the FIFA Club World Cup 2020, and National COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Project in the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) in 2021.
“The successful implementation of these projects, maintaining a high level of client and staff safety and satisfaction, demonstrates the value of project planning and continuous monitoring in successful implementation even in the context of uncertain conditions such as a global pandemic. Public and community health authorities may benefit by applying similar principles as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold,” said the study published on the latest issue of Journal of Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Acute Care.
“All three events analysed in the study were managed by Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) and constituted a series of experiences, each of which generated useful lessons for subsequent events,” it added.
In Qatar, the key public health challenges faced during late 2020 and early 2021 included safely hosting major international sport events while minimizing COVID-19 transmission, and successfully establishing mass vaccination sites to quickly and safely inoculate as large a proportion of the population as possible. The PHCC played a key role in managing these largescale public health projects.
The COVID-19 screening project for the AFC Finals and H H Amir Cup took place in November and December 2020 and entailed screening approximately 28,000 spectators during that timeframe. Screening for the FIFA Club World Cup 2020 took place over the course of the first two weeks of February 2021 and involved more than 25,000 spectators.
Mass vaccination at QNCC began in February 2021 and continued through June 2021, and resulted in more than 650,000 vaccinations administered in total.
The authors Yasmin Ali Morad and Arun Chandrashekhar have said that the study has revealed that each project described in this case series can be considered a success from a public health standpoint.
“These experiences highlight the importance of developing an institutional culture that embodies the principles of change. The challenges of managing these major public health projects in the context of a global pandemic were met largely because of the capacity of the organisation to take an agile and adaptable project management approach,” the authors have suggested.
They added in conclusion: “The necessity to adapt in response to unanticipated changes was built into the strategic planning process as well as into the operational protocols put into place during implementation. Public health authorities may benefit by applying similar principles as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold, and as new challenges arise in the future in healthcare or similar industries.”
