The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) recently organised the graduation ceremony of the first batch (Level I) of the Field Epidemiology Programme in Qatar at Itqan Clinical Innovation and Simulation Centre in Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City.
A total of 23 health professionals from the MoPH and its partners completed the three-month training at the first level of the programme of field and office work.
The programme will continue with the second batch before the end of this month.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the MoPH, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), the regional director of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a delegation from the Middle East Community Health Network, representatives from the US embassy in Doha, and representatives of the World Health Organisation in Qatar, the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), and Qatar Energy.
Dr Saleh Ali al-Marri, the assistant minister of Public Health for Health Affairs, praised the co-operation between Qatar and the US, expressing his appreciation for the US CDC technical support with the field epidemiology programme.
Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, the director of MoPH’s Non-Communicable Disease Prevention Department and co-chair of the Field Epidemiology Programme in Qatar, stressed the importance of the field epidemiology programme as one of the strategic projects for qualifying health professionals and supporting them with advanced knowledge and expertise in the field of surveillance and investigation of epidemiological events.
He noted that the programme would continue for two years in its first phase, providing training for six batches of the first level, the best of whom would be nominated for training at the intermediate level.
Sheikh Dr Mohamed expressed his gratitude for the parties that contributed to the success of the agreement signed between Qatar the US government, represented by the MoPH and the CDC respectively.
Dr Youssef Khader, representative of the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET), congratulated MoPH leaders and all health sector partners who contributed to the success of the programme, stressing that the commitment of the MoPH and its partners to support the programme will yield impressive results for the development of the public health sector.
The Field Epidemiology Programme in Qatar is being implemented in co-operation between the MoPH, the US CDC, the US embassy in Doha, the HMC, Itqan Centre, Hamad Hospital Microbiology Laboratories, the PHCC, the Ministry of Municipality, the QRCS, Qatar University, EMPHNET, and several private sector hospitals.
