All private healthcare facilities in Qatar should allot from today a clinic time of at least 30 minutes for each client with each doctor or care provider, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has instructed in a memo.

The second phase is starting today. The memo specifies that clinical operations at private healthcare facilities should not exceed 60% of their maximum capacity. Clients should only be received through pre-booked appointments, except for emergency and urgent care services.

Private healthcare facilities should continue to provide telemedicine services as much as possible, according to the memo issued by Noora Abdulla Mohamed al-Mulla, acting director, Healthcare Facilities Licensing & Accreditation Department. Health services delivered at home remains suspended.

This includes home visits by doctors, physical therapy and daily nursing, except for nursing services provided through long-term contracts. The other instructions for private healthcare facilities are as follows:

  • Allow clients to enter the healthcare facility only five minutes before the scheduled appointment time, check the Covid-19 status of the clients and health workers through the Ehteraz mobile app, check the temperature for clients and workers upon entering the health facility.
  • Clients may be allowed to wait within the healthcare facility, provided that the space allocated to each client is not less than 9sqm and the distance between one client and the next is 1.5-2m.
  • It is not allowed to mix clients with respiratory infections or a fever with the other clients, and, instead, they must be separated in separate waiting rooms, one room each.
  • All workers and clients must wear face masks all the time.
  • Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ought to be provided for health workers.
  • Provide full PPE for health workers when making interventions that generate aerosols or splashes (e.g. dental, ENT, ophthalmology procedures).
  • Frequent disinfection of examination rooms, chairs, treatment rooms and waiting rooms according to the infection control rules of MoPH.
  • Applying strict physical distancing while providing care and maintaining a safe distance except during doing medical examinations or procedures.
  • Utilisation of single-use tools which must be disposed of immediately according to the MoPH standards.

Compliance with the rules and guidelines of the MoPH regarding the health of workers in the healthcare facility and the need to monitor their health status. Violating these rules exposes the healthcare facility to legal accountability, the memo added.

Source : Gulf Times

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