Qatar has opened a 200-bed general field hospital at the Industrial Area providing emergency, outpatient and Covid-19 health care services to support the community in the locality.
The facility which can attend to 2,000 to 3,000 patients a day is meant to ease the pressure on the health care system in the country and help the countrywide efforts to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is also intended to provide immediate support for the workers staying in the area and help them access better and quick healthcare in their neighbourhood.
“This general field hospital can provide treatment for most of the emergencies and other ailments as well as outpatient services,” said Dr Khalid Abdulnoor Saifeldeen, lead for healthcare sector in lockdown area, told a visiting media delegation on Monday.
The hospital has about 200 health care staff including doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. It has laboratories, X-ray facility as well as an ambulance station. Dr Saifeldeen noted that the facility will be operational for a relatively long period.
“The capacity and accesses to care has changed with the Covid-19 situation and this area is under lockdown. So we have to provide with alternative access to healthcare. We have medication refill system, outpatient clinic, emergency and observation among others. We don’t provide critical care service or major trauma care. But such patients are very less in number and can go to other hospitals. Even very sick Covid-19 patients can go to hospitals dedicated for Covid-19 care, “explained Dr Saifeldeen.
“This facility offers huge benefits to the population here. We don’t see patients from outside. We give something that the people in this area deserve. It will also complement the healthcare system in the country and ease the pressure on other facilities. So until this area is open, the facility will offer the services and will be here for relatively long term. This place gives an opportunity to provide care to people in this area in a better and unique way,” continued the official.
Dr Rahma Salim, emergency medicine consultant at the hospital said that the hospital has a number of facilities.
“The hospital has an emergency department, Covid-19 track to asses and do swabbing test for suspected people and a Covid-19 holding facility. It is mainly for male workers in the area, but any emergency cases of women and children will be attended to. The Covid-19 holding facility has about 80 beds which can accommodate Covid-19 suspected people for around 24 hours. Once a patient is tested, we expect the results to arrive in about eight hours. If the patient is tested negative he will be sent home and if he is tested positive, he will be transferred to the quarantine facility,” highlighted Dr Salim.
“We have an adjoining Covid-19 quarantine facility which can accommodate 300-400 people for two to four weeks. Any Covid-19 positive cases will be transferred to the nearby quarantine facility,” added Dr Salim.