The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has completed the main works of South Al Wakra Health Centre. The works were carried out by the Building Projects Department to serve about 360 visitors a day in accordance with the government plan for developing and implementing better health services in Qatar, according to an Ashghal statement.

Engineer Hind al-Mahmied, head of Health Projects section at Building Projects Department, said that the centre is being prepared for handover to the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) after the major works are finished.

Three more health centres are being constructed at Al Khor, Ain Khalid and Al Sadd and they will be delivered to MoPH along with the National Health Laboratory this year, she explained.

The project took about 682,000 man-hours without lost-time injury since Ashghal provides all safety precautionary measures for the workers in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Parking facilities

Spread over an area of about 3,000sqm and includes a single-storey main building with main clinical building, nine clinics, annex buildings, mosque, support services building, guards building, monitoring chamber, electrical and mechanical maintenance annex, a garage for ambulances and 125 parking slots.

The services covered by the ground floor of the main building has two pharmacies, six general clinics, one dental clinic, two paediatric clinics, medical labs, x-ray and ECG room, isolation room and mosque building.

The project design has considered requirements of people with special needs including signage messaging, illustrations and braille script, friendly toilets, wide walkways for easy movement, auto-sensor doors and reception desks with convenient height besides car parking spaces close to the main entrances and ramps in place of steps.

The new project comes as a realisation of Qatar Vision 2030, which is the basis of Ashghal strategy to provide integrated infrastructure and public utilities that serve all sectors in the country, especially the health sector. Ashghal implemented about 24 health facilities from 2004 to 2018.

As per Ashghal’s vision to support the growth of Qatar’s GDP, a huge proportion of materials used in pojects are locally made. The percentage of local materials used in the South Al Wakra Health Centre reached 45%. The materials include iron, steel, MEP items, glass and other materials.

The health facility projects occupy a major chunk of Ashghal’s building projects in co-operation and co-ordination with health care sector entities represented by MoPH. Notably, the primary health care sector has recently witnessed major developments through the opening of several modern health centres.