Qatar prepares healthcare professionals for 2022 World Cup

Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani (Middle)

Over 5,000 healthcare professionals virtually attended the Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference held in Doha from February 9 to 12.

The conference was a partnership between the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and aimed at preparing the healthcare sector for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

HE Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of the Public Health Department at the Ministry of Public Health, and co-chair, Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference, said that the sessions of Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference focused on comprehensive planning and preparations being made to ensure the readiness for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the plans that are being taken in presence of COVID-19.

HE explained that COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of flexibility during planning and immediate response to the event, pointing out that the health care landscape in terms of mass gatherings was completely different when the State of Qatar awarded the rights to host the FIFA World Cup in December 2010.  

Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference, which took place virtually over four days, witnessed the participation of more than 5,000 healthcare professionals with the aim of preparing the healthcare sector for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Conference sessions focused on preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Qatar’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and hosted high profile speakers including FIFA president Gianni Infantino, World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and HE Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy .

Dr AbdulWahab al-Musleh, co-chair of Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference said as we countdown to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, it was more important than ever for healthcare workers to have access to the latest information and best practice.

“We had more than 5000 delegates, predominantly from across Qatar’s healthcare sector, attend this unique event. Delegates had the opportunity to learn about a range of topics associated with mass gatherings during the conference, including public health surveillance, risk and crisis communication, crowd and environmental management, prevention of infectious diseases, incident and outbreak response management, and health promotion and public information,” added Dr al- Musleh.

Dr Sheikh Mohamed al-Thani, director of Public Health Department, MoPH.

Co-chair, Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference said the pandemic has demonstrated to use the importance of agility and flexibility in terms of planning as well as our immediate responses to a situation.

“The healthcare and mass event landscape is very different from when Qatar was awarded the rights to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December, 2010 and we now live every day with a pandemic - Covid-19 is still very much a part of our lives,” he said. “Healthcare teams from the Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation and many other healthcare providers in Qatar are working together to provide medical services to teams and travelling fans. Conference sessions highlighted the extensive planning and preparation underway to ensure their readiness for the tournament, plans which are taking into account measures related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.”

Dr Hassan al-Thani, head of Vascular and Trauma Surgery at HMC and co-chair, Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference said the conference theme was “Preparing for the 2022 World Cup and the Response to Pandemics in Qatar – a multidisciplinary team approach”.
“2022 is a momentous year for Qatar and as healthcare providers we are playing a unique and important role in delivering what will be the best FIFA World Cup the world has seen,” he said. “While many teams have already been working tirelessly to prepare for this, there is no doubt that we do so in a radically different environment than we ever anticipated. Because of this changing landscape and we wanted to ensure our colleagues had access to the latest insights, the newest research and experience in the key areas of mass gatherings and pandemics.”

The partners for Qatar Health 2022 and 2nd Qatar Public Health Conference were the MoPH, Primary Healthcare Corporation, Qatar Red Crescent, Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar, Qatar University, Qatar Biobank, and the American Medical Association for their collaboration on the programme.

Source: Hukoomi