QATAR will look to become a destination for medical tourists seeking state-of-the-art treatment, according to Hamad Medical Corporation chairperson Dr Latifa al-Houty.
“The Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation of all five hospitals of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) will highlight Qatar’s capacities for medical tourism, a highly profitable industry, so as to serve an increasingly mobile world population,” she said, as quoted by the local Gulf Times newspaper.
Dr al-Houty was addressing a function held to present JCI accreditation certificates to the hospitals and also to felicitate heads of various departments under HMC.
Describing the accreditation as “one more message for the world to sit up and pay attention to our country,” she cited the tremendous success of the 15th Asian Games, Doha, 2006, the development of world-class education centres in Education City and the growing success of Aspire as raising the profile of Qatar.
“The world can expect even greater things from Qatar in the realm of healthcare as the government continues to invest significantly,” she said
A total of QR3.8bn has been allocated to HMC for the fiscal year 2006-07. Some of this investment has been routed into capacity expansion and some into expanding the range of services available to the residents of Qatar.
Dr al-Houty pointed out that education and healthcare are the two areas identified by the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and HH Sheikha Mozah Nasser al-Misnad as being vital to the success and progress of the country.
“This is clearly evident in the establishment of the Qatar Foundation and Education City where both education and health feature prominently,” she said.
The HMC chairperson also observed that the JCI accred-itation is a seal of confidence that shows the residents of Qatar are receiving healthcare that meets, and in fact in numerous areas exceeds the global standard.
JCI Middle East managing director Dr Derick Pasternak pointed out that his organisation’s mission is to improve the safety and quality of care in the international community through education, publication, consultation, eval-uation and accreditation .