HE Abdullah bin Khalid al-Qahtani, flanked by Dr Hanan al-Kuwari, managing director HMC; Mariam Abdulmalik, managing director,PHCC; and Prof. Lord Darzi, executive chair, WISH.

The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) organised a special event yesterday to celebrate Qatar’s achievements in mental health and the nation’s contribution to global mental health initiatives.
The event, under the patronage of HE Abdulla bin Khalid al-Qahtani, Minister of Public Health, was part of the celebrations of World Mental Health Day, observed on October 10 annually.
“The joint efforts of the SCH, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), other stakeholders and supporters have led to the successful implementation of the Qatar National Mental Health Strategy,” the minister said.
Reinforcing the government’s ongoing commitment to mental health, he said: “Together we remain dedicated to our strategy’s vision of promoting good mental health and delivering patient and family centred mental health services”.
Highlights of the  strategy implementation were profiled at the event and plans for 2016 were discussed with the focus on four key objectives of the strategy.
Achievements for objective one included drawing up a promotion and prevention action plan, carrying out a survey to measure attitudes toward mental health issues and the associated stigma, and piloting an awareness programme in workplaces.
The event outlined plans to launch Qatar’s first mental health awareness campaign in 2016 as well as information resources informed by local research.
A range of achievements in mental health service provision were shared for objective two by Qatar’s primary and secondary healthcare providers. PHCC trained over 400 family physicians on foundation level mental health and over 60 in advanced training and developed clinical guidelines for depression and anxiety. Future plans include introducing primary care mental health teams.
HMC opened the first community mental health hub in Muaither for children, young people, and adults. It also expanded hospital psychiatric liaison services, implemented an appointment system for psychiatry outpatients, and provided specialist training for nurses in mental health. Future plans include providing inpatient mental health services at Al Wakrah, expanding HMC community mental health services and delivering teaching and training programmes for staff.
Achievements under objective three, included conducting an impact evaluation of the Mental Health Strategy and completing the final draft of Mental Health Law. Future plans include enacting and implementing the Law, setting quality standards, developing an autism plan, promoting patient and family participation in service planning and supporting delivery of mental health services to migrant workers.
Achievements for objective four, were  developing a Mental Health Minimum Data Set and clinical care pathways across secondary care for child and adolescent mental health services as well as forensic, substance misuse, and adult services. Future plans include developing a priority mental health research agenda in 2016, including research governance and evaluation.