80% of National Primary Health Care Strategy 2013-2018 achieved

As the National Primary Health Care Strategy 2013-2018 draws to a close, at least 80 percent of its initiatives have been implemented, according to Dr Mariam Abdulmalik, Managing Director of Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC).
The strategy has made 10 pledges that guarantee high quality healthcare for all.  Building on its success, a 2018–2022 National Primary Care Health Strategy will be implemented  soon. It will emphasize on primary care as the first step to healthcare, said Dr Abdulmalik speaking at the third International Primary Care Conference, yesterday.
She delivered a keynote address on ‘Building blocks for Primary Health Care (Dynamic Transformation)’  on the third day of the conference and emphasized about the position of primary care as the first step to healthcare in the country’s heath system.
“2017 has been an important year for PHCC, we are right in the middle of a significant milestones, the previous strategy set the foundation of primary care and now going forward the 2018–2022 National Primary Care Health Strategy will focus on delivering health outcomes, advocating health promotion and preventative care and continuing to place a great emphasize on primary care as the first step to healthcare. Our direction will be outcome focused with clear targets to enable us to effectively and confidently deliver better outcomes on health population,” said Dr Abdulmalik.
A total of 1,250,225 registered patients received services from 33 health centers across the country. Among them 8,529 patients are served every day across the health centers. More than 6,000 clinical and non-clinical staff are employed and according to a national survey, patients showed 70 percent satisfaction from the all services provided by PHCC.
In her presentation, Dr Abdulmalik also highlighted about key factors of the PHCC’s vision to be achieved by 2022. The vision aims at providing  high quality and comprehensive services available for everyone, granting easy access to health information and advice, reducing  variability in quality of care and improved patient experience.

In this regard, PHCC will also  require involvement of the community in determining needs at different levels. In addition, all patients will have a named doctor whom they can see on a regular basis.

Dr. Zelaikha Mohsin Al Wahedi, Executive Director of Workforce Development and Training. Pic: Kammutty VP / The Peninsula

While, the three day International Primary Care Conference concluded yesterday discussing various issues related to primary care.
“The conference  has undoubtedly given us all a lot to think about, we celebrate what has already been achieved in primary care but more importantly it has presented a great stage for us to look forward to the future. Our commitment to primary care, takes into consideration the lessons learn, the global challenges presented, the knowledge and experience shared in the past three days which has further inspired our vision to ensure that we have an excellent functional health systems with highly experienced and motivated health personnel,” said Dr Abdulmalik.
The conference also featured key note speaker Prof Lord Darzi, Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of Sidra and a Member of the Qatar Foundation Advisory delivering a key note on ‘Innovation in Primary Care and Community Services, yesterday.
“PHCC is leading the way globally with their primary care model under the leadership of Dr Mariam Abdulmalik,” he said in reply to a query on how can  Qatar’s legacy of promoting health and wellness in primary care benefit other countries.
“Lessons to be learnt from Qatar’s includes introduction of wellness clinics, population health measures, introduction of cancer screening programmes and accountable care systems,” he added.  
Also several workshops were  held on Health Promotion and  Disease Prevention as well as Education, Training and Capacity building.
Shiekh Dr Mohamed Al Thani, Director of Public Health Department Ministry of Public Health addressed a session on ‘Achieving Healthier Communities’.   “The role of primary care is critical to Qatar Health System and PHCC has provided a great platform at this conference to share knowledge and inspire development,” he said.
While, Dr  Zelaikha Mohsin Al Wahedi, Executive Director Workforce Development and Training at PHCC in her presentation discussed about ‘The Vision for Healthcare Learning, Education and Development.  Her presentation focused on the strategic initiatives that drives the development of a competent health care workforce supporting a world class primary health care service in Qatar.
“All our initiatives are connected to the  National Health Strategy,  National Primary Health Care Strategy and the Qatar National Vision 2030, and aim at gaining  excellence in workforce and development,” Dr Al Wahedi told The Peninsula.