The Hernia Surgery Centre at Al Wakra Hospital (AWH), a member of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), has been accredited by the Surgery Review Corporation (SRC) for its Hernia Centre of Excellence and is the only hospital in the Middle East to receive this award.  
SRC is a non-profit organisation from the United States, known globally for their accreditation of Centres of Excellence in bariatric and hernia surgery. They have accredited a number of centres in the United States but this is their first accreditation in the Middle East.
Highlighting the importance of the accreditation, Wilson Ross, acting chief executive officer of AWH said, “This recognition is an important milestone in the continuing growth and success of our new Centre of Excellence for hernia surgeries.”
“The accreditation shows our commitment to improving patient care through the highest standards of care. We are proud to have met the challenge of accreditation and intend to consistently uphold the principles of quality improvement and patient care in the future,” Ross said.
The Centre of Excellence, with state-of-the-art equipment and the ongoing education and training of highly-skilled surgeons, was recognised for their enormous expertise in different aspects of hernia surgery and approach to patient safety.
This accomplishment supports HMC’s ambition to maintain the highest standard of services to enhance the quality of care offered to patients, adopting international best practices and the most advanced surgical techniques in hernia repair to offer the safest, most effective and most compassionate care to its patients.
Two surgeons were also recognised for their excellence as part of the accreditation process, Dr Tamer El Bakery and Dr Nizar Bouchiba who work under the leadership of Dr Mohamed El-Akkad, managing senior consultant in the AWH Surgical Division, at the Hernia Surgery Centre.
Dr El-Akkad said, “We were accredited not only because we are surgeons that are experienced in the field, managing complicated and problematic cases using the most up to date and recent techniques, but because we have the system, policies and protocols together with a team that works to guarantee the safety of our patients.”