DOHA: The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, at Hamad Medical Corporation is aiming at massive expansion projects. From a super sub-speciality hospital to various community projects, the department aims to upgrade the lives of disabled people.
"We have many projects focusing to upgrade the lives of people and rehabilitate patients back to the society," said Dr Wafaa Al Yazeedi, Assistant Chairperson, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, HMC. "There is an increased focus on disability and rehabilitation in Qatar. We have many medical and social projects."
In 2015, the department will open a 200-bed super sub-specialised Rehabilitation Hospital. The hospital will have all the facility to handle accident patients from the initial day of the event to integrating him back to the society. The hospital, within the medical city, will have specialisations in five sections, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury stroke, pain management and paediatric care.
Meanwhile, HMC will soon open Skilled Nurse Facility in the Medical City. The centre will be for those who do not need medical care but cannot live in the society for social reasons. "These patients will be shifted to medical city. The project will have 80 beds and will be classified according to the severity of each case," she said.
The patients at this centre will be those with minimal response ability and have trainers around them. Usually, when a highly disabled person is discharged, family members are trained to look after and the hospital staff checks the facilities at home. Sometime the family is not fit to take them back or not ready to take the responsibility, and is hence left in hospital which causes bed shortage. With the opening of this Skilled Nursing Facility, bed crisis will be solved and they will have a better living atmosphere.
"We are also hoping to have houses with these facilities within the society to introduce community care. Doctors will be on call to the facility and have weekly routine checking."
"On the social side, Qatar has already many programmes for people with disability which are independent. We hope to bring in all these organisations under on umbrella and have a good network between them which can help the people with disability in a big way. In this way the organisations can work as a referral for the HMC and a better supervision is possible. They will all have the same system and plan."
The department also aims at ensuring recruiting these people for work. "We are looking at various projects to bring in the disabled in to the workforce. There are some centres also handling this issue. We will bring all these institutes together and include the schools also. Schools will have special obligatory programmes, in the future, which are aimed at giving vocational training before a student with special needs finishes the secondary school. They will be given vocational rehabilitation to make them ready for work after finishing the schooling," Dr Yazeedi.
The department also has plans to open a rehabilitation centre in Al Khor Hospital. It will include services for paediatric female and male and will be OP clinic with physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy facilities.
By Huda NV
© The Peninsula 2009
