Health sector ready for 2022 FIFA World Cup: Minister
THE healthcare sector is working together to ensure it is fully prepared to respond to the unique demands of major sporting events, Minister of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohammed al Kuwari has said.
In a statement during Qatar Health Conference 2020 on Thursday, the minister stressed the importance the health system attaches to ensure the full readiness of the entire health sector for major global sporting events, ensuring the sector’s ability to respond to the challenges in the appropriate manner.
“In recent years, Qatar has hosted an increasing number of sporting events which attracted tens of thousands of people to one location. Mass gathering events in general have the potential to strain health systems. For this reason, we are placing great emphasis on ensuring the healthcare sector as a whole is fully prepared and able to appropriately respond,” Kuwari added.
“Mass gathering medicine is a new field of medicine that focuses on the health risks of large number of people gathering at one place and hosting of Qatar Health 2020 is part of the efforts to ensure our public healthcare system and professionals are ready for the World Cup 2022,” she explained.
Kuwari stressed that Qatar Health 2020 is part of the continuous efforts to ensure the readiness of the health system and healthcare personnel to provide the necessary healthcare services during the 2022 FIFA World Cup events that will be hosted by Qatar.
Qatar Health 2020 comes within the framework of the health sector’s preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The event is organised by the Ministry of Public Health in cooperation with Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation and Aspetar Hospital.
The conference seeks to enhance the experiences of healthcare personnel over a period of three days in providing healthcare services during the rallies. It is the first conference in Qatar on healthcare of mass gatherings.
The conference provides the participants with an opportunity to get to know guidelines better for the process of pre-planning mass events. It also represents a platform to encourage the building of cooperative relationships between participating cadres and the exchange of experiences and best practices in the area of public health, security and crowd management.
THE conference also provides an opportunity to review the latest developments in the field of planning and preparing for mass events as part of the efforts to prepare for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
“In the past 12 months, Qatar’s healthcare sector has supported a number of large-scale sporting events in the country, including the IAAF World Athletics Championships and the FIFA Club World Cup. We have provided a wide range of services for these events via HMC’s Emergency Departments and Ambulance Service, PHCC’s primary care physicians and Aspetar’s sports medicine experts. These events have enabled us to implement and assess our response to mass gatherings as we continue to prepare for the FIFA World Cup 2022,” said Dr Abdul Wahab al Musleh, chairman of Qatar Health 2020 and the World Cup 2022 Healthcare and Doping Control Committee.
“This is an extremely important area of healthcare delivery and I am delighted with the outcome of Qatar Health 2020. We had more than 3,000 delegates, predominantly from across Qatar’s healthcare sector, attend this unique event. Delegates had the opportunity to learn about a range of topics associated with mass gatherings during the conference, including public health surveillance, risk and crisis communication, crowd and environmental management, prevention of infectious diseases, incident and outbreak response management, and health promotion and public information,” added Dr Musleh.
Dr Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, managing director of PHCC, said incorporating an all hazard prevention-driven, integrated, evidencebased approach that is delivered across the sector by a multidisciplinary effort is key to preparation in primary healthcare.
“Our preparation for mass gathering at PHCC enhances our ability to deliver primary care services to citizens and visitors alike comprehensively and efficiently. Our goal is to ensure that provisions of care are in place. The measures we have undertaken to ensure this include a trained multidisciplinary team, a well-informed community and facilities that are equipped and easily accessible”, said Dr Abdulmalik.