Doha, June 19 2013

Al Wakra Hospital will join Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) other hospitals in seeking Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, which ensures the highest standards of patient care.

Al Wakra - HMC's newest Hospital - is planning to apply for the prestigious accreditation next March. Opening in December 2012, Al Wakra has been serving the healthcare needs of the people of the country's south, with the Emergency Department seeing nearly 7000 patients seen in May 2013 alone.

Of that, 1200 were treated at the Women's Emergency Department and nearly 2000 patients at the Dentistry Department. A further 900 patients were treated by the Physiotherapy Department.

In May the hospital received 124 inpatient admissions, 14 had been referred by Hamad General Hospital.

In other major milestones:

Since its opening, 1376 surgeries - ranging from simple procedures to more complex cases -  have been performed with 1256 being hospitalized;

The Hospital's Outpatient Department has served 23,409 patients during the months of April and May 2013;

The Women's Outpatient Department at Al Wakra has treated more than 3300 patients in the period between March to May 2013;

The Maternity Department has delivered 663 newborns from January to the end of May 2013;

The Dentistry Department has treated 2957patients within the same period;

More than 5400 patients have been served at the Rehabilitation Department between January and the end of May 2013 and,

The Pediatric Emergency Department at the Hospital saw a total of 26,590 patients.

Al Wakra also has a full complement of specialized clinics to serve the healthcare needs of the population. The Cardiology Clinic sees an average of 18 patients each day and there are currently no waiting lists for this service.

In other developments, the Endocrinology (Diabetes) Clinic and the ENT Clinic are both fully operational while the Ophthalmology Clinic is due to open to the public in July.

All of the hospital's clinical facilities are fully operational and have seen a significant increase in the number of patients being treated at the state-of-the-art hospital. Its areas of specialty include general medicine, general surgery, pediatrics and pediatric emergency, obstetrics and gynecology.

The hospital provides comprehensive, high quality healthcare to people of all ages, from emergency care, to general medicine and surgery and highly specialized treatments. Cases requiring specialized healthcare services are referred to specialty facilities, including the Heart Hospital, the National Center for Cancer Care and Research and Women's Hospital.

Al Wakra Hospital has not only been designed to meet most of the present needs of the communities it serves, but has also the potential to expand in the future and introduce a wider range of more specialized services.

The hospital is a 210 bed facility (which has a flexible capacity of up to 260 beds) and occupies an area of 130,000 square meters. The growing communities of Al Wakra and Doha International Airport, as well as people living as far as the Saudi Arabian border, are all served by it.

With a staff of nearly 3000, including more than 200 doctors, the six storey hospital houses emergency departments for adults, children and maternity as well as 86 critical care and observation beds and the diagnostic imaging department is equipped with MRI and CT scanners.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2013