Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) revealed recently that mental health services have been expanded and diversified to provide services to people in Qatar outside the framework of the psychiatric hospital, providing more access to all segments of society and reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. Deputy Chair of Psychiatry at Hamad Medical Corporation Dr Majid Al Abdullah said that the first psychiatric clinic in the Qatar Foundation Primary Health Care Center includes a psychiatric consultant from HMC to provide psychological counselling services to students, employees and their families.

He added that it also started receiving transfers from the Qatar Foundation Primary Health Care Center and all its entities eight months ago. A senior consultant psychiatrist at Hamad Medical Corporation Dr Rajeev Kumar said that the clinic provides all services and psychological counselling for all cases of adults aged 18 to 65 years in a private and confidential manner, where the number of cases that benefited from this service since June of last year and until now 200 cases. Director at Qatar Foundation Primary HealthCare Centre Dr Lamyaa BaniMurad said that Qatar Foundation Primary Health Care Center will cooperate even more in the future. She added that the clinic has contributed to facilitating access to advanced services to Education City. In the same context, daily psychiatric clinics were opened at the outpatient clinics of Hamad General Hospital.

They receive patients throughout the week from 7 am to 3 pm, allowing more cases to be received and shortening the waiting lists. Part of the expansion efforts will see the opening of specialized psychiatric clinics on a weekly basis at some health centres. Each consultant clinic will include a psychiatrist consultant from Hamad Medical Corporation, who will examine the cases, whether complex or simple and diagnose the appropriate treatment. The expansion of mental health services also included the Psychiatry Hospital. It now includes 15 clinics, which receive about 150 cases per day, necessitating an increase in medical staff during the year 2018 by about 15 doctors whether consultants, residents and specialists. It is worth noting that these expansionary measures contribute significantly to shortening waiting lists by up to 70 per cent in some instances.

Source: QNA, Photo credit: QNA

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Binu Cherian

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