Al- Ahli Hospital is set to open a polyclinic in Al Wakra in the fourth quarter 2016

Al- Ahli Hospital is set to open a polyclinic in Al Wakra in the fourth quarter of this year as part of the hospital's expansion plans.

Mr. Jamal S Hammad Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Projects said, “The facility will serve residents of Al Wakra and we hope to launch it in September/October this year. This is one of our main strategic plans currently being implemented." According to Hammad, the facility is going to be a large polyclinic spread over an area of 4,500 square meters with 13 beds and a care centre that will be open 24x7. The facility will include internal medicine, pediatric, obstetrics/gynecology and surgery departments."It will have about six clinics, lab as well as radiology and dental departments." Currently the hospital is also looking at expansion in the northern part of Qatar."We are planning another facility in Al Gharaffa or somewhere along the north bound road," he added.

Hammad, however, said that the main expansion of Al- Ahli Hospital would be undertaken at its existing location. The expansion has been pending for past six years for lack of approval from the concerned authorities. "The project has been pending because of design issues concerning the permission for the number of floors to be built in this location. We have expressed our concerns to the government officials hoping that we will be allowed to build at least a ground floor and four floors. Currently, we only have the approval for ground and first floors, which does not meet our requirement."

Emphasizing that Al- Ahli Hospital is the largest private hospital in Qatar supporting the healthcare growth, Hammad pointed out, “Our contribution to serving Qatari population under 'Seha' was also significant. We served 35 to 40 percent of the Qatari population under the scheme while the rest of the 65 percent was taken care of by other hospitals including Hamad Hospital." He added that when the 'Seha' scheme was initially launched, there was a total shift of patients from other private hospitals to Al Ahli. "We reached 100 percent occupancy at least four days a week during those days," he said.