Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at HMC and co-chair of the forum
Doha, Qatar: The Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare has helped equip and inform healthcare professionals to excel, improve, and be catalysts for change over a decade, said healthcare leaders yesterday.
The long-standing strategic partnership between Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has led to meaningful improvements in healthcare in Qatar and the region.
“We are now in the tenth year since we started organising this forum. The forum has contributed to addressing issues related to patient care, improving patient care, ensuring patient safety, and mitigating risks,” said Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at HMC and co-chair of the forum, while speaking to media on the sidelines of the 2024 Middle East Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare.
The forum is one of the most important annual conferences on improving the quality of healthcare in the region, and the event has become a platform for knowledge exchange and sharing experiences in healthcare development, said Prof. Abdul Badi Abou Samra, HMC’s chief quality officer.
Prof. Abdul Badi Abou Samra, HMC’s chief quality officer
He said the forum has provided a stimulating and inspiring setting for healthcare professionals to meet, learn, and share knowledge with the collective aim of improving the quality and safety of care for patients and communities.
“It is one of the unique forums in our region. It has been continuing for ten years, and each year attracts more international experts, and healthcare professionals learn about tools and methodologies that have been successfully implemented in leading healthcare institutions around the world,” he said.
“Each year we are learning from other international institutions; as well as our hospitals and our teams are developing using these techniques for quality improvement,” he said, adding that quality improvement and patient safety are continuous processes.
Prof. Abou Samra said that safety and quality improvement, by itself, is a science requiring analysis, data, cooperation, planning, and training.
The 2024 forum programme covered engaging topics across five tracks — quality and safety, population health, leadership and innovation in healthcare, applied improvement, and person-centred care.
More than 2500 healthcare professionals from Qatar and the region are attending this year’s forum, both in-person and online.
