The Sidra Medical and Research Center (Sidra) will conduct about 50 paediatric day surgeries per week, a top Sidra official said yesterday.
Sidra launched the day surgery services yesterday. The first procedure, under the general paediatric surgery segment, was conducted for hernia on a little boy.
Dr David Sigalet, medical director of the Outpatient Clinic and the chief of surgery at Sidra, said that there is a great demand for the day surgery services of the hospital.
“We have two operating theatres at the outpatient clinic now. We can conduct about five surgeries each one of them daily. This comes to about 50 surgeries per week. So we will be able to conduct more than 200 surgeries a month. When we open the main hospital, we will have 12 theatres and able to accommodate a larger number.”
“We can provide surgeries in different areas for which people can get referral from Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation and Qatar Foundation Primary Healthcare Centre,” he said.
The medical director pointed out that a number of surgeries are lined up. A number of people are in the waiting list. However, we would like the people to make use of our surgery services in all the paediatric areas. ”
According to Dr Sigalet, Sidra is the only hospital in the whole Mena region dedicated to paediatric services. “We have a child as well as family centric approach. We provide the right atmosphere for the patient before the surgery. We have a play therapist who engages the children with several activities to make them comfortable before a surgery. Such a patient-centric service is very rarely found in any of the hospitals in the region.”
According to the official, about 3% of children need surgeries for different reasons. “There could be some issues with their eyes, airways, ears or other parts. Sidra is happy to receive more and more paediatric patients and offer them our advanced services.”
However, the official pointed out that most of the people are approaching Sidra only for general paediatric surgeries. “More people are coming for general surgery as well as urology. Many of them are not aware of the fact that we provide surgeries in different areas such as ophthalmology, plastic surgery, ENT orthopaedics among others.” he noted.
Dr Sigalet stressed that has already got all the surgical clinics and specialist clinicians are ready for the services. “There are a number of paediatric specialists at Sidra and they provide the best care for children.”