Doha: With the increasing complaints about the long waiting lists for operations at the Hamad General Hospital (HGH), a senior official of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has said that the problem prevails due to the shortage of operation theatres. Some patients have to wait for as long as two to three months for surgical procedures at HGH.
This long waiting list is due to lack of operation theatres, recovery rooms and wards, Dr Abdullah Al Ansari, Chairman of Surgery at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), told an Arabic daily yesterday.
More than 30,000 operations take place at HGH annually, but the number of operation theatres, doctors and staff, do not match up with the number of surgeries, Al Ansari said.
The waiting period has particularly increased over the past few years at HGH, he added. In terms of precedence, top priority is given to the critical cases, which are admitted to the hospital on urgent bases.
Second priority is given to cancer patients, which are admitted within a period of two weeks.
Once these cases are deal with, the hospital takes on the cases of patients who arrive through appointments.
Most of these patients have to wait up to three months due to the priority list and the lack of operation theatres, Al Ansari said.
He, meanwhile, maintained that the situation is still better compared to other countries where patients have to wait for up to six months. Currently, plans to upgrade and expand the surgical units at HGH are under progress.
HGH has 13 departments, including seven new ones. Al Ansari said that there are plans to increase the number of surgeons so as to cope with the growing number of surgeries. The hospital currently also has some 450 surgeons, including 200 consultants and 250 specialists.
HGH has a special committee for medical errors, which meets on weekly bases. The objective of the committee is to review all procedures and cases at HGH.
The Peninsula
