HMC Sealine Medical Clinic concludes its services for 2020-21 camping season

Tribune News Network Doha Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Sealine Medical Clinic has concluded its services for the 2020-21 camping season. The clinic, ...

Tribune News NetworkDohaHamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Sealine Medical Clinic has concluded its services for the 2020-21 camping season. The clinic, which has been operating for the past 11 years, provides campers in the Sealine and Khor Al Adaid areas with urgent healthcare services. This year’s clinic opened in October 2020 and concluded its services on May 22, 2021. The clinic is in line with HMC’s commitment to providing safe, compassionate and effective care to all patients in Qatar.Ali Al Khater, chief communications officer at HMC and project manager of the Sealine Hamad Medical Clinic, thanked everyone who contributed to the activities of the clinic, including clinical, nursing staff, paramedics from the Ambulance Service and administrative support staff. He thanked the Ministry of Municipality and Environment for their continued support to the Sealine Medical Clinic, including their support in relocating the clinic to a more accessible venue, which facilitated its smooth running in providing urgent health care to campers in the area during the camping season.Efforts to ensure that campers in the Sealine and surrounding areas are provided with quality and speedy healthcare services throughout the camping season have been coordinated with various stakeholders in Qatar. Khater noted that the activities of the clinic this year’s camping season have been of a special nature as it came amidst the COVID-19 pandemic which required campers to adhere to precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus. “During this season, we have seen Sealine campers’ commitment to precautionary measures such as social distancing, wearing face masks and keeping hands clean constantly to avoid the COVID-19 virus, as well as taking safety precautions and to prevent accidents, injuries and potential infections. This has helped the clinic staff perform their healthcare role. We are thankful to campers for acting responsibly,” Khater said.The clinic operated from 3pm Thursday to 5pm Saturday each weekend during the camping season. The clinic is equipped with necessary medical equipment and other items for medical emergencies and trauma. Serious cases needing specialised care are transported to hospitals via ambulances or helicopter, depending on the type of emergency. The clinic, which has an adjacent helipad, is staffed by a physician, a nurse and a medical supervisor. Speaking about the services offered this season, Dr Hamid Ghareeb, medical supervisor at the Sealine Medical Clinic, said: “Work at the clinic continued throughout weekends during the camping season where a total number of 817 (724 male, and 93 female) patients were seen, including 222 trauma cases and 595 medical cases. “The clinic staff treated 738 patients aged between 11 and 60 years and four patients older than 60 years of age whereas paediatric patients aged 10 years and below accounted for 75 patients. Out of the total number of patients seen, 20 cases required transportation to emergency departments at Hamad General Hospital or Al Wakra Hospital via ambulances but this season none were transported by helicopter.”