Doha: A new and state-of-the-art Private Automatic Branching Exchange (PABX) was yesterday formally commissioned at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), providing seamless connectivity between the corporation's various facilities and better services to patients and their families. The PABX, worth QR3.5m, was donated to the HMC by Qatar Telecom.
The PABX was installed on December 23 at the Hamad General Hospital and a most of its advanced services, which includes Caller Line Identification and Presentation (CLIP) facilities to in-patients receiving phone calls, became functional from yesterday morning. Other facilities that the PABX offers the HMC is interconnectivity with the HGH, Women's Hospital, Rumaillah Hospital, Al Amal Cancer Hospital and the Al Sadd Paediatrics Emergency Centre. Henceforth, callers can dial only one pilot number of the HMC to get connected to any of the corporation's hospitals.
The new system also offers voice mail box and Internet Protocol interface that will allows HMC the option to offer Internet access in hospital rooms. The PABX also offers conference calls which will allow physicians treating a patient to consult one another, whenever required. The PABX will also allow the HMC to link its upcoming facilities such as the hospital in Al Khor and Al Wakrah as well as the new cardiology centre.
Dr Nasser M Marafih, Chief Executive Officer, Qtel, said: "We have always worked closely with the HMC to support initiatives where our technology helps in the development of health related services. This was one of the most ambitious projects to date in the health sector in Qatar and comes as part of our drive to extend support to initiatives that help promote health and well being of the people of Qatar. It is important to us that the benefits of the new system reach the patient and make their stay at the hospital more comfortable. Now, they can identify their callers before they answer the phone and avoid misplaced calls which were an annoyance in the past."
Dr Latifa Al Houti, chairperson, HMC, in her speech on the occasion, remarked: "Communication technologies are a vital tool for health providers. Access to information and connectivity are all factors that shorten response time in an emergency situation for example."
She thanked the Qtel chairman, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Saud Al Thani for the contribution to HMC. She said that under the proposed IT infrastructure for Qatar, all healthcare and other services would be linked to allow a person requiring emergency assistance to be tracked instantly.
H E Turki Mohammad Al Khater, managing director, HMC, also spoke on the occasion.
Khalid Al Muttawa, section head, government sales at Qtel, in his briefing, said that the new PABX currently offers 6,000 telephone lines and will eventually accommodate 8,000 lines. It can be expanded to offer a total of 16,000 lines, to cope with the growing demands of HMC. It will also be able to link the Hamad Medical City when the facility goes online but would not be able to serve the new facility alone, which is very large.
Dr Latifa disclosed that the Hamad Medical City would come on board only after the 2006 Doha Asian Games because the corporation would require at least two years to refit the buildings to serve as healthcare facilities.
© The Peninsula 2005
