Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is about to embark on its busiest expansion programme, in more than a decade, which will see seven new major hospitals open in Qatar over the next 18 months, creating more than 1,100 new hospital beds before the end of December 2017.

In the biggest boost to hospital bed numbers in Qatar in recent memory, the equivalent of almost 60 new beds each month will be created in specialities where there is high demand for services and will enable more patients to be able to access care at these new, state-of-the-art hospitals.

“The delivery of these seven new hospitals – including new facilities for women’s health and the region’s first specialist ambulatory care centre - reinforces Hamad’s commitment to giving the people of Qatar high quality, world class hospitals, facilities and healthcare,” said Hamad al-Khalifa, HMC’s chief of Healthcare Facilities.

“These new hospitals and facilities will revolutionise healthcare delivery in Qatar by increasing bed capacity and giving our patients faster access to specialised care where and when they need it. The new hospitals and facilities will also significantly free up capacity at our existing hospitals to enable the continued development and expansion of services,” he explained.

The new purpose built, 65-bed Communicable Diseases Centre, will be dedicated to the care, treatment, prevention and research of communicable diseases.

The new Women’s Wellness and Research Centre (WWRC) will be a tertiary care provider and specialist hub for women's health services with capacity for up to 15,000 births per year. The WWRC will offer 260 beds and 53 neonatal intensive care cots and 48 step-down (intermediate) cots.

The new Ambulatory Care Centre will provide outpatient clinic services together with a range of elective clinical procedures to adult patients who will not require an overnight stay, some of who will require anaesthesia or a period of post-procedure observation, or both.

The 38,000sqm Qatar Rehabilitation Institute with 193 beds will provide comprehensive and integrated rehabilitation services for adults and children.

Three new Industrial Area Hospitals will also open – in Doha, Al Khor and Mesaieed Industrial Areas – each with 112 beds and a range of services to cater to the healthcare needs of the male labourer population.

The opening of the four new facilities in and around Hamad bin Khalifa Medical City (HBKMC) – the Communicable Diseases Centre, the Women’s Research and Wellness Centre, the Qatar Rehabilitation Institute and the Ambulatory Care Centre – will represent the delivery of an important milestone for HMC and will form the cornerstone of the HBKMC campus, while the three new hospitals for male labourers will provide easy-to-access, high quality health care closer to their communities.

Building on recent new facility openings including the Neuroangiography Suite at Hamad General Hospital and the Enaya Continuing Care Centre for women, children and adolescents, HMC has also overseen a significant expansion of services outside of Doha bringing care closer to patients.

“HMC has been the leading healthcare provider in Qatar for nearly 40 years and these facilities will ensure we continue to provide world class care for generations to come,” al-Khalifa added.