Primary Health Care

In 1954, the Department of Primary Health Care began to provide health services through a number of clinics. In 1978, the Ministry of Public Health developed an integrated project to build primary health care. The project, which was presented to the Council of Ministers, included the launching of primary health care services through nine health centers across the country that are able to provide high quality comprehensive and integrated medical and health services, both preventive and curative, aiming to upgrade health in the community in a healthy environment where everyone lives, so that these services act as the first line of defense for patients and the broad base which provides support and assistance to hospitals in the country. It also included the establishment of modern specialized hospitals to meet the needs of citizens. In view of the importance of health services provided through health centers and in order to achieve the objectives of the National Health Strategy, which emphasizes that health care is the base of health system in the country, H.H Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, issued, on 20th February 2012, a decree on the establishment of Primary Health Care Corporation considering it as an independent corporation with its own independent budget. The corporation is operating through (23) primary health care centers divided into three regions namely: the Central, Western and Northern. Thirteen of these centers are located in Doha city, while the rest of centers are located in populated areas in all parts of the country in order to provide a wide variety of different types of health care services that depend on the location and needs of each area throughout a set of objectives which focuses on keeping the health of population, disease prevention, in addition to patient diagnose and treatment. Through its qualified employees, PHCC has worked diligently and continuously to provide high quality health services in all health centers distributed across the country by developing the available services and introducing new health services such as health and wellness centers as well as the implementation of family medicine in many health centers. In 2018, four (4) new health centers were opened, namely Muaither, Alwajba, Al-Awaab and Qatar University health centers, as these centers contribute significantly to reduce the burden on other centers and to facilitate access to excellent health services based on the geographical distribution of population, thereby reaching the number of 27 health centers by the end of 2018, including 5 wellness centers.