According to Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, the Official Healthcare Spokesperson for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Qatar’s healthcare industry is well-prepared for the tournament with top-notch services, world-class facilities, and skilled medical personnel.
He said that the health sector was preparing for over a decade since the country won the bid to host the tournament.
“We opened 16 new Primary Health Care Centres and ten new hospitals while increasing the health care capacity significantly with the biggest emergency centre in the region. Also, we improved the efficiency of ambulance service while increasing the staff strength and deploying skilled workforce that will support multiple health care services.
We have a well-trained ambulance crew, who will serve the patients inside and outside the hospitals,” Dr. Al Maslamani said speaking at ‘Making Mega Sporting Events Safe and Healthy’ event, organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), online. He also emphasised that fans will be able to access healthcare services near to fans zones and stadiums in case of emergency and they will be transported to hospitals if needed for further treatment.
“We built our system on the lessons that we learned from our previous experiences. And other countries and organisers will build on our preparations while taking lessons from us,” he said.
Dr. Al Maslamani urged the fans and visitors to access the Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) social media platforms to get Information on how to avail services and how to deal with infectious diseases and hot weather. Head of Vaccination, Department of Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control at MoPH, Dr. Soha Al Bayat said that Qatar has been making preparations to control any kind of infectious disease outbreak over the time.
“We have been working in collaboration with international and local partners while chalking out scientific plans and strategy to move on with the challenges.
Qatar’s strategies have been proven successful and the country has recorded the lowest rate of mortality and highest rate of vaccination coverage. We have strengthened our plans to fight communicable diseases. We have been making plans for the last one decade and COVID-19 has further strengthened these plans,” she said.
Dr. Al Bayat said that Qatar has a robust surveillance system in place to identify COVID-19 or any communicable disease spread and curb it. “We have a well set up track and trace system where cases are traced and controlled. The World Cup will be a healthy and safe experience,” she said and added that the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 was like a mini drill and it was successfully organised in an healthy and safe environment. “We want to leave a legacy that tells the people that this major event can be held during a pandemic and during a different season while making it safe,” she said.
She also said that vaccination is not mandatory for World Cup fans, but recommended to get vaccinated against seasonal influenza and COVID-19.
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