Doha

The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has launched the Qatar National Cancer Registry to provide integrated national data on all cancer cases diagnosed each year from all public and private health sectors.
A new electronic data reporting programme has been developed for the registry by the SCH staff. The registration of cancer cases will be carried out electronically by hospitals, as well as by laboratories and private diagnostic centres. The information will then be scientifically checked and reviewed.
The registry’s database is connected with other relevant entities to ensure that the data is updated.
Dr Faleh Mohamed Hussain Ali, assistant secretary general for Policy Affairs at SCH said it will provide comprehensive information about cancer cases in the country which can be used for the purposes of health planning and development and scientific research.
Dr Faleh noted that the registry is one of the significant outcomes of the National Cancer Strategy which has achieved remarkable progress since its launch in 2011. He said the registry now employs qualified staff who have achieved an international accreditation to register cancer cases.
The Qatar National Cancer Registry is part of the National Cancer Programme at the SCH. The programme provides the framework that defines the national approach to dealing with cancer in Qatar and is based on the National Cancer Strategy.
The programme aims to reduce the burden of cancer in the country while ensuring that the best services in the world are delivered to patients to improve outcomes.
Qatar is among a few countries in the region whose cancer data has been accepted by the World Health Organisation, which reflects the high quality of data collected on health issues in Qatar.
The Qatar cancer data was published in the 10th edition on cancer cases by WHO (Ci5-X) issued by International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC).