Qatar Daily News

Cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring is set to become at least 17 times cheaper, faster and accurate in Qatar, according to a report.

The test is being conducted at the Cancer Molecular Medicine (CMM) section of HMC’s Molecular Genetics Laboratory, it added.

The laboratory along with Al Amal Hospital has created an easier and quicker method of diagnosing cancer. Al Amal Hospital provides samples from cancer and leukaemia patients, and the lab helps in diagnosis and in monitoring body response to cancer treatment, The Peninsula said.
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Under the title of “Advances in Medical Genetics”, the second Qatar Genetics Symposium participants have discussed prevalence of genetic diseases in the Middle East and strategies for their treatment and prevention. The event, which is sponsored by Hamad Medical Corporation and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, brought together yesterday a number of experts and scientists from Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Germany.

In a speech on the occasion, Managing Director of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Dr Hanan Al Kuwari said: We are living in a fascinating era where every month, unique and outstanding achievements are announced, in medicine in general and in medical genetics in particular.

He added: The past year has been marked by major achievements in clinical and metabolic genetics services at Hamad Medical Corporation by establishing Qatar Medical Genetic Centre. Dr Kuwari added that HMC has invited the best speakers to provide the latest advances in the area of medical genetics, with focus on the prevalence and prevention strategies of genetic diseases among Middle Eastern populations including the Gulf countries.
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Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar inspires next generation of physicians with overseas medical doctorate degree – the first US University to do so

Qatar is beginning to reap the benefits from attracting regional and international students to study for an overseas medical doctorate degree at first class educational institutions such as Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar. (WCMC-Q)

Fouad Otaki, a fourth year medical student at WCMC-Q, suitably attired in white coat complete with stethoscope and looking every inch the ‘young doctor in training’, was ‘guest of honour’ at the Qatar pavilion last week, during the Arab Health exhibition in Dubai.

Otaki chose Qatar and WCMC-Q in particular because it offers the Cornell medical doctorate degree course, the first US University to do so and Otaki is not alone. It is worth noting that WCMC-Q now attracts medical students from all over the region and internationally, even one from the US.
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In a regional first, Qatar has embarked on a major initiative to establish a world-class biomedical research programme with the aim of 120 scientists, technicians and support staff in place within five years, details of which were presented at the Arab Health exhibition in Dubai today.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q), bringing together institutions with overlapping missions in education, research and healthcare.

It draws on the strengths of organisations in the Qatar healthcare sector such as Hamad Medical Corporation and Sidra Medical and Research Centre. It also aims to create a conduit for the commercialisation of discoveries through the Qatar Science and Technology Park.
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VICE-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, yesterday visited Qatar pavilion at the Arab Health Exhibition and Congress being held in Dubai.

Headed by the Ministry of Health, a consortium of educational institutions and healthcare organisations from Qatar is taking part in the exhibition under the banner ‘leading the change’.

The participants include Hamad Medical Corporation, Aspetar Qatar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Qatar University, University of Calgary Qatar, College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Qatar Science and Technology Park and the Qatar Diabetes Association.

The Sidra Medical and Research Centre, under the Qatar Foundation, is the biggest healthcare project in the Gulf region, according to a research published recently.

Countries in the region are spending almost $14bn in the healthcare sector according to the Proleads, which maintains the most comprehensive database of the projects in the region.

The spending shows that despite the economic downturn, investment on healthcare is continuing across Gulf countries with a mixture of public, private and joint-venture initiatives.

Sidra, scheduled to open in 2011, is the first academic medical centre announced in the region based on the North American model. It is funded by $7.9bn endowment from the Qatar Foundation, the largest endowment of a medical and research centre anywhere in the world.
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INDIAN healthcare group KIMS has launched its third project in GCC countries by opening a polyclinic, KIMS Qatar Medical Centre at Wakrah, an official said yesterday.

The new venture is run by a partnership between Coastal Healthcare Management, Doha and KIMS Hospital Group, Thiruvananthapuram, India.

KIMS Qatar Medical Centre (KQMC) will initially offer services in orthopaedics, gynaecology and ENT.
The present medical team consists of specialists Dr Praveen Kumar Pande (orthopaedic surgery), Dr Jyoti Pande (obstetrics & gynaecology) and Dr Sajith Kumar V I (ENT), all with vast experience in providing medical care in India and various countries.

The paramedical services available initially are audiology and speech therapy and physiotherapy. In two months’ time, doctors are to join the departments of paediatrics, dentistry, internal medicine and dermatology.

A clinical laboratory, X-Ray and pharmacy will also be commissioned soon in the same complex.
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