Sheikha Moza attends WISH session on investing in health

Qatar's diversified local and global efforts in investing in the health sector were highlighted during separate sessions of the World Innovation Summit (WISH) yesterday, in the presence of H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation.
The closing plenary session of the two-day summit discussed different aspects of Qatar’s investment in health education, expansion of healthcare facilities and research initiatives.
H E Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, said that Qatar’s wide range of investment in health is not limited to building hospitals, speaking to an audience of 1,400 experts, policy makers and academics from around the world.
Princess Lalla Salma, chairperson of Lalla Salma Foundation for Cancer Prevention and Treatment, and Princess Ghida bint Talal, chairperson of the board of trustees of the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH, Egbert Schillings, CEO of WISH and several other dignitaries were also present.
“We have a huge expansion programme but our work is not limited to buildings. We invest very heavily in development in our human capacity and human talent. We invest in education, medical schools, continues development and training programmes. We also focus on quality and safety improvement of patient care. We also have number of programmes that focus on patient experience, which help in making our services more efficient,” she said.
“Qatar gives great importance to scientific research in various fields, especially in the health sector to find innovative solutions to health challenges and ensure continuous development and improvement of health services in the country,” she added.
Amani Hadad, Pharmacy Student, Qatar University and Dr Turki Al Ahbabi, Resident, Hamad Medical Corporation share their training experience and benefits of attending global Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety, an initiative of WISH.
The closing session also heard Mustafa Suleyman, head of Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) at DeepMind, where he is responsible for integrating the company's technology across a wide range of Google products.
The second day of the Summit featured policy briefings and panel discussions on cardiovascular disease, healthy populations and investing in health. The session on investing in the field of health highlighted that middle-income countries can achieve good results and improve public health as well as make progress in just one generation if they direct their investments to this sector. Dr Lawrence H Summers, the former US Secretary of the Treasury, emphasised the importance of investment in health and its enormous economic returns, in addition to its humanitarian nature and role in the social and economic well-being.
Dr Summers praised Qatar's role and valuable efforts in health investment at home and abroad despite the circumstances in the region, pointing to the role of the Qatar Foundation and the Education City as well as the country’s fruitful cooperation with regional and international organisations in this field.