From Left: H E Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health; Dr. Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, Managing Director of Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC); and Musallam Al Nabit, Assistant Managing Director, Administration and Finance Affairs, PHCC,
An international primary healthcare conference opened in Doha to discuss major developments and challenges in the presence of H E Dr Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, yesterday.
The 4th International Primary Healthcare Conference – Qatar 2020 being held under the theme ‘A Foundation set for Significance’ and has brought together world renowned speakers and experts from across the globe to share knowledge and best practice through panel sessions, exhibitions and workshops.
“With a broad global participation, the conference makes a landmark on primary health care in Qatar and the region,” said Dr Mariam Abdul Malik, Managing Director of Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), addressing the opening session of the conference held at Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel in Doha.
“PHCC has significantly invested in developing primary care facilities and broadening services provided to our communities. We have implemented various programmes to advance the quality of services, in partnership with local and international partners.
This conference is providing an international platform to share our progress to date and to highlight our future ambitions to support excellence in not only primary health care but an integrated care system in Qatar,” said Dr Abdul Malik addressing an audience of more than 800 local and international healthcare experts, leaders, primary care specialist, surgeons, physicians and other health practitioners.
“The conference is an opportunity to explore areas such as how best to develop integrated and population health-oriented systems of care, identify specific redesign strategies and interventions, and present evidence of their effectiveness,” she added.
The conference will present 60 research papers throughout four days and will review primary care challenges and developments, provide a platform to drive change and enhance best practice.
At a local level, participants at the conference include healthcare professionals from PHCC, the Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar University, Weill Cornell Medicine -Qatar, Sidra Medicine, and University of Calgary-Qatar. Global experts taking part in the conference joined from the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand as well as several Arab countries including Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Jordan and Morocco.
Dr Marc A. Bruijnzeels, Associate Professor at Leiden University Medical School Campus. The Hague and the Director of Jan van Es Institute delivered a key note speech on ‘Turning vision into reality through innovation, integration and leadership.’ It was followed by a talk by Dr Jeanelle de Gruchy, President, Association of Directors of Public Health in the UK on ‘Current challenges in health promotion and capacity building in primary health care setting.’
Sessions on the first day also included discussions on the role of clinical leadership and how to improve the performance of health services, updates in clinical use of antibiotics in pediatrics as well as panel discussions on the health care transition in Qatar.
The pre-conference workshops covered a wide range of topics including wound management, lifestyle as medicine, travel medicine and learning from patient experience.
The 4th International Primary Health Care Conference – Qatar 2020 is hosted by the PHCC in partnership with HMC, and official sponsors are Qatar Biobank, Qatar University and QNB. The conference will conclude tomorrow.
