Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                      07 July 2018

Sidra Medicine, a key player in Qatar’s integrated healthcare system opened State of the Art and well equipped with latest technology Children’s Emergency Department (CED).

Sidra Medicine’s CED treats serious emergencies for children up to the age of 18, including loss of consciousness, severe trouble breathing, major bone fractures, seizures and convulsions and other emergencies. Children and young people admitted to the CED will be treated free of charge.

The CED is located in the main Sidra Medicine hospital building. Children up to 18 years of age requiring emergency care can access the CED directly or by calling 999.

“We have much to be proud of in terms of what we have achieved leading up to our opening,” said Dr. Khalid Al Ansari, Chair of the Department of Emergency. “We worked tirelessly and collaboratively to create a solid infrastructure for the Children’s Emergency Department. This included ensuring that all the essential services were up and running to support the functioning of the Children’s Emergency Department and address all emergency cases. Our team built on their extensive international experience with many thousands of simulation hours and training so that we’re prepared for a really wide range of scenarios and ready to offer the best care possible as one multidisciplinary team. We’re proud to begin serving our young emergency patients in Qatar.”

With the opening of the CED, Sidra Medicine is adding capacity to existing emergency and urgent care centers in the country. It will now be one of several options available for children requiring emergency and urgent care, supplementing existing healthcare facilities such as Hamad Medical Corporation’s Pediatric Emergency Centers (PECs).

In addition to the CED, Sidra Medicine also operates a Children’s Urgent Care Clinic in the same location. Should parents with children requiring non-emergency care choose to come to Sidra Medicine for treatment, the Children’s Urgent Care Clinic will treat them in order of medical urgency and require a charge of QAR 550 to be paid for consultation (supplementary charges may apply). Non-emergency cases include upper respiratory issues like sore throats and coughs, rashes, or low-grade fever. Sidra Medicine’s highly qualified and experienced triage staff will determine the urgency of treatment and the appropriate level of care required on site.

The CED and Urgent Care Clinic together have 60 rooms and are expected to treat approximately 20,000 patients in the first 12 months. That number is expected to increase to 50,000 patients per year over time. The CED offers 24-hour care and is staffed by an international team with the highest qualifications in pediatric emergency care, including physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians and imaging and lab professionals.

The new services will complement those already available at Sidra Medicine since opening its main hospital in January. Major achievements so far this year include:

• Opening the Sidra Medicine Heart Center with the help of an outstanding clinical team, cutting-edge equipment and facilities, and advanced treatments and care. In May, Sidra Medicine treated its first patient in the Heart Center’s new cardiac catheter labs, and performed its first open heart surgery in July.
• Utilizing advanced 3D printing technology linked to diagnostic imaging to produce anatomically accurate models of organs to help plan complex surgery.
• Launching a wide range of pediatric medical and surgical programs, including kidney dialysis, and becoming Qatar’s major center for neonatal surgery.
• Opening the Sidra Medicine Women’s Urgent Care and Obstetrics Triage Center for women with urgent issues related to pregnancy and the reproductive system, such as acute pelvic pain and bleeding complications in early pregnancy (below 12 weeks).