Qatar Healthcare Systems
Introduction
Qatar’s Ministry of Health acts as the coordinating and statutory body for the health care management in the country. Its responsibilities are to come up with health policies and reforms that are used to provide an oversight for the health care development system. There is a state of pressure in the country due to the discontinuity and uncertainty in strategic management and making of long-term policies. This paper is aimed at understanding and comparing the health care reforms and policies between Qatar and United States as countries that have strong, but different healthcare delivery systems and how they contribute either positively or negatively in satisfying people’s needs. It also puts focus on the political dimensions of the health care reform and policy processes and the improvement that may contribute positively on a more efficient system.
Qatar’s Healthcare system
The government plays an important role in the health sector. The government guarantees that the regulatory and legislative structure is implemented; is rationalized and is properly imposed; coordinating and setting general strategies and policies for the health sector; taking accountability for the creation and advancement of crucial material and human resources in an efficient, equitable and balanced way, and for a financing method that is sustainable and fair. Moreover, the government is also required to participate in leading, supervision, steering, and monitoring of the overall performance of the health care system. This includes health functions hosted publicly or privately. All this involves communication prerequisites, information and intercession when suitable. The ministry’s function is mainly inclined on a regulatory, normative basis and in strategy coordination and setting (Beneret al. 2010).
Medical Commission Department of Qatar controls the occurrences of infectious diseases by inspecting expatriates who travel to the country for employment. Newcomers who exceed the age of 12 years and desire to remain in the country for a time phase exceeding one month are needed to go through examination and screening assessment as advocated for by the GCC States. They are in charge of giving out medical fitness certificates. They also inspect the nationals for employment, joining colleges, universities and institutes abroad, and acquiring government popular house (Saxe, 2007). Through this department, the government has control over the introduction of deadly infectious diseases by expatriates from other states. In 2003, a computer link was launched between the Medical Commission Department and the Ministry of Interior aimed to avoiding impediment caused in the provision of the medical certificates for the newcomers. This assisted in the efficient exchange of information between the two ministries on how appropriate action can be taken to ensure immediate giving out of their residence permits.
Although the Public Health Ministry is liable for granting healthcare to all the nationals of Qatar, the industrial sector clinics, Ministry of Interior, Sports Medicine Centre and Ministry of Defense also abide with the task of offering health services to workers (Hegyvaryet al., 2008). These Primary Health Care clinics are sufficiently stocked and staffed to give some of the specific services. The Sports Medicine Center grant authentic services to the sportsmen and athletes by keeping them in shape to uphold the country’s flag in international sports arenas. The health services in Qatar are currently planned as follows:
Primary Health Care (PHC). This level of health care provides essential preventive and curative health care.
Specialized clinics contained in some centers. These provide exceptional care to the patients referred from the PHC centers.
Specialized and training hospitals. Health care is provided for the patients who are referred by the training hospitals and specialized clinics.
Qatar’s healthcare system has improved a lot for the last 50 years. Currently, the industry possesses the most sophisticated medical equipment, highly skilled workforce, a nationwide network of healthcare centers and hospitals. In addition, the country has a cardiology unit known to be “one of the best in the world” by outside experts. According to anaccount given by the GCC (General Secretariat of Ministers of Health), Qatar is a country with the lowest maternal death rate (Mansour, 2007).
Free healthcare in Qatar
Qatar’s public healthcare is funded by the government, and it makes it free for all its nationals. Although the expatriates are not included in the free healthcare, they enjoy a highly subsidized treatment. Qatar’s commitment to strengthening the healthcare sector is seen in the government’s effort to make a budget that will cater for the enough funds available for the free healthcare for the citizens (an estimate of US$1,200 per capita expenditure of the healthcare). The government funds the public healthcare facilities so as to make it easier for the nationals to access good health care. However, even as the government tries to make the public healthcare system work, the first phase of delivering the service is in rural communities. The enhancement of the system in rural areas is mainly credited to the well supervised behaviour structure. It coordinates the rural health care to ensure that delivery of services and control of disease outbreaks is well maintained.
In a fundamental overhaul of the division, Qatar is forecasting to introduce enforced health insurance for emigrants, expand its infrastructure and employ local workers. Far-reaching improvements on the Qatar healthcare system are being geared up. They entail addition of more nationals to the healthcare workforce, encompassing enforced medical covers and enhancement of the healthcare network in Doha (BALLANTYNE, 2011). According to the International Monitory Fund, Qatar was the third highest state in its per capita product in the world during 2007. This means that with the increasing deviation from the right diets and way of life, illnesses of affluences such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are on the rise. This entitles more efficient reforms are needed to help curb this rise, not necessarily by treatment but also through educational training done to empower and influence people on how to live healthy. The increasing healthcare needs by the residents over the past two decades have put the public healthcare network under a lot of tension. This has led to creation of a budget which reflects healthcare expenditure of around $60bn in the year 2025, from the $12bn used up in 2007.
This budget involves allocating funds to the existing national hospitals, and disbursement of funds meant to open new health centers. This is because there is increasing strain on forefront services whereby uninsured expatriates check themselves in the emergency and accident wards due to the laws that restrict them from booking morning appointments at the public medical clinics. This is because Qatar views mandatory medical insurance cover as a solution. Currently, Qatar’s health care system is funded by the government only. This puts a strain on other sectors that require the same great intervention. On the down side of the proposed compulsory medical cover law implementation, there has been some resistance from the employers, who are not willing to add to the workers’ payment arguing that “employees should be accountable for providing for their own healthcare”. It is misguided and misinformed to see healthcare as a worker’s problem (Mansour, 2007).
It is vital, that the government ensures that helpless groups of workers such as day laborers and domestic workers have right to use the health care and are not left out. In reaction to these pressing worries, Qatar formed a National Health Authority body (NHA) in the year 2005. Its responsibilities are; supervise and expand private and public hospitals and clinics, establish health funding policies and broaden health messages to other areas. It also focuses on hiring more health workers to work in the health care system. Another part of the strategy is Weil Cornell Medical College (WCMC) which trains the local nationals to be well competent for the health care jobs, as well as sending residents overseas for training. Qatar also introduces a lot of overseas medical workforce.
Comparison of Qatar and United States Healthcare systems
The considerations taken into account when judging the efficiency of a healthcare system are usually its quality and availability. In the case of the U.S healthcare, it is currently a big issue. Questions are being raised by the citizens and politicians on whether the existing private model is the most efficient way to provide the vast economy with their desirable healthcare. On the other hand, Qatar is a rich, young and tax-free country in the Middle East. These two countries have many differences concerning their healthcare systems. In the two countries, medical services comprise of mostly the private healthcare. However, though 67% of the healthcare contributors are profit-based, their profit margin is not even close to that of the United States healthcare system (Beneret al., 2010). This is because most hospitals in Qatar are communal.
The public health providers in Qatar provide good quality care which treats most conditions, and the other 33%comprises of dental practices and alternative medicine practices. On the other hand American healthcare is composed of private healthcare providers in majority because people consider these facilities to give better quality care than the public hospitals owned by the government. With the heavy reliance exhibited on private healthcare, it is crucial to balance the cost of private healthcare in United States as well as Qatar. The U.S being a leading economic muscle has a much higher regular individual income than majority of countries; therefore the private healthcare is more expensive in the United States. The World Health Organization categorizes it as the most expensive in the world. Though most people manage to pay for medical cover, it is perceived as unreasonable towards another working class who cannot afford it (Mansour, 2007).As a consequence of this, these people are forced to settle for the lower quality of health or put themselves in downbeat financial states which affect them very negatively.
However, in Qatar most people choose to acquire healthcare from government hospitals therefore, the cost of private healthcare is less than that of the U.S, regardless of the standard income of the country. The public healthcare systems in Qatar provide quality and good care so it would be misguided to state that lack of medical insurance in Qatar is disastrous like in the United States (Hegyvaryet al. 2008). On the other hand, regardless of the noticeable un-affordability in the United States, it is hard to deny the elevated quality the private healthcare givers offer to the clients. In terms of availability, there are scenarios in the U.S that even though a person has purchased medical insurance it does not cover some diseases which causes more spending by the people to get additional treatments. In Qatar, medical cover is readily available and cheap for any expatriate who wants to purchase.
Conclusion
The comprehensive comparison between the healthcare systems in Qatar and the United States reveals Qatar’s healthcare system to be more proficient than the United States. Despite the fact that the private healthcare is more lucrative in the U.S, it definitely has faults that need to be addressed. Qatar is able to address the needs of the people which are the best aspect in judging of a healthcare system. This is because most of the healthcare services are either cheap or free.
References
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Mansour, E. (2007). PUBLIC POLICY AND PRIVATISATION: THE CASE OF THE QATARI EXPERIENCE.Public Administration & Development. 27(4): 283-292
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