HMC hospitals see 4.5% increase in number of births

More than 21,000 births took place at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) hospitals across the country in 2014, marking a 4.5% increase compared to 2013. Al Wakra Hospital, with 3,673 births, recorded a 77 % increase on 2013. At Al Khor Hospital, 1,197 babies were born in 2014, recording a 7% increase on the previous year. Births at Cuban Hospital in Dukhan increased by 88%  over the same period, with 256 births throughout 2014.All the three hospitals witnessed an increase of 54% births from 3,326 in 2013 to 5,126 in 2014. One-quarter of all babies born across the HMC network were delivered at hospitals other than Women’s Hospital, a figure that has continued to increase in recent years.Mohamed al-Jusaiman, deputy chief of HMC’s General Hospitals Group, said: “The expanding services provided outside Doha mean expectant mothers now have a greater choice of where to deliver their babies, with specialist care services available closer to patients’ homes. Additionally, the growth and expansion of our maternity services in Dukhan, Al Wakra and Al Khor has enabled patients’ greater diversity of access to specialist maternity services, offered in a modern, beautiful environment.” HMC managing director Hanan al-Kuwari noted that the corporation “is committed to the development of a unified system of healthcare, delivered across multiple sites.The fundamental principle of one system, multiple sites, means that patients can expect uniformly high standards of care wherever and whenever they choose to access HMC’s services”.HMC has placed particular emphasis on expanding its care services, and in particular maternity services, outside Doha through its three general hospitals in Dukhan, Al Wakra and Al Khor. Women’s Hospital was HMC’s sole provider of maternity services prior to the opening of Al Khor Hospital in 2006 and the Cuban and Al Wakra hospitals opening in 2012.  The model of public sector maternity services in Qatar is set to change significantly with the opening of both HMC’s new women’s hospital and Sidra Medical and Research Centre.Prof David Barlow, chairman, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and director of Women’s Services at HMC, explained: “Sidra and the new women’s hospital will each provide similar capacity, between them handling the majority of deliveries in the public sector. In the future there will be a more even division of births across all public hospitals.”