New In Qatar: Child Health

It is such a greadt advice for anyone who has got little ones and new in Doha!

I was bitten last night by one of the outside cats. This happens frequently that I get a bite or scratch, but this one really hurts. This morning my finger was all swollen.  I put it in some hydro peroxide but that did not seem to help. So this afternoon I went to my regular health centre (part of the national government clinics) saw the doctor, got a tetanus shot, had the offer of having my finger bandaged (which I refused for I can do this myself just as well) received anti biotics, antibiotic cream and anti infalatories. All this for QRS 8.- and was done in 15 minutes. For these small things you are better off to go to the local Heath Centre than go to the hospital emergency.

Aisha-Taweela

I must say v useful information for mothers with young children. I have emailed this page to myself and im sure will come in handy when i arrive in qatar next month InshaAllah. Though no one like hospitals but illness are inevitable with young ones. Once again thanks for sharing :)

you are welcome alexa. it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with HMC. use the website www.hmc.org.qa

do it right - the first time!

alexa WOMEN s emergency  is solely for obstetric and gynaecological problems.

you really cant expected to be treated for cat scratch over there.

the place to go was the HMC main emergency.where you would have a nurse in reception greet you, guide you to your location ,would tell you where to take your token number and go for treatment...in this case the female minor injury room.sure you might have to wait but in this country's only real hospital it pays to wait rather than go to private,unless its in selected disciplines.

i understand most of your fears but as far as i can tell they seem misplaced.

also women s and HMC are 2 seperate hospitals albeit in one common building .

by The way hmc emergency iis also the largest emergency department in the world(as per visiting doctors from pittsburgh,USA).

I WILL ALSO SEND A PM TO YOU WHEN I DO GET TIME. REGARDS.

do it right - the first time!

ameen to that QT...i hope no one ever needs serious surgery here..

Novi, i do think the qatari hospitals are much better than the private one, from my experience. I dont know about American hospital though, maybe back then but these days, its not very good..

Recently i had to take my son with a very high fever there and i always ring b4 i go because if they dont have a pediatrician there, they wont see the child. i rang and they said yes the pediatrican is there till 1pm. We arrived at 12 only to be told that the pediatrican had to go home and no one can see my son. I asked if there was a GP and they said no one available. Of course i blew my gasket there and suddenly the manager comes out and suddenly the pediatrican was at the hospital (she appeared from thin air)...I told them i dont know what would happen if someone was dying and came here. I said this isnt a hospital this is a circus...needless to say i never went back there again...

when i arrived here 7 yrs ago i was 7 mths pregnant. The company only pay the delivery if we goes to Hamad. I was freaked out with the way how the patient got treated in the woman hospital. Felt like a cattle being push around from one room to another room. In the end i ended up in American Hospital, that was the best hospital at that time ... i think it was the only private hospital in Doha.

Few months back my son felt at school ... he had acute concussion ... took him to Emergency section in Hamad. They were really good and efficient ...  Have a bit of complained about the nurses there ... but overall i am quite impressed with the state of government hospital in Qatar.  

Hmmm....  If it's not an emergency, and I have no joy here, I may just go to Dubai.   My policy is worldwide (allegedly)

Fingers crossed, I don't get ill!  (I hope none of you need treatment either)

No QT its not useless you will still have to pay big bucks for crap service and Drs who dont know what they are talking about...it just wont be useful to you

OMG!  

So my health insurance policy that I paid a fortune for is useless here?

There never is a bad time at most of these hospitals Alexa, they are always the same. i pray to god i never need urgent treatment here as well. Im sorry to hear you went through that..

I dont know about the adults one i never tried it but the childrens one was fine. There is a degree of chaos but thats because people dont know how to stand in line and wait, everyone flashes their papers wanting to be seen, but the childrens hospital does have a system....

i repeat ,for surgical emergencies it is but for medical kids have to go al sadd.

just out of curiosity can you elaborate on what exactly you found shocking, i dont work there but i have several friends who do and i am sure they would find it interesting. 

do it right - the first time!

al sadd pediatric is fully equipped to take care of any MEDICAL EVENTUALITY.....however should your child have(god forbid) a trauma or require a surgical intervention, HMC emergency is the place.

please note this important difference. a lot of valuable time has been wasted by people who didnt. 

do it right - the first time!

no worries novi......yes novi they are not equipped for serious treatments, but they are excellent for everything else.

Nadt ... thank you for the advice.

I also like to add up that this place did not treat an open wound. When my son injured his head last year in Little Angels nursery ... i went there then they told me i have to go to Emergencey section in main hamad hospital.  

For the record though, if god forbid you child has a burn, poss fracture, or break, they dont treat them there. You will have to take them to another hospital like Al Ahli etc...This happened to someone while i wasthere and thats the advice they gave them, so dont waste prescious time going there...go elswhere...

This is an excellent place, after 6 months here and trying out all the expensive supposedly good place, we went to them when some other hospitals couldnt see my son because they were over booked and busy. They took us in quickly and gave us medication for 2 riyals beleive it or not. They were very professional i agree with qatari, the drs are great there.

We donated money in the charity box there, its really worth it.

Some private hospitals are charging an arm and a leg, not to mention the expensive medications you have to purchase at their pharamcy and until i went to the this clinic, i didnt find any competant Dr's..

very good place to take your child when emergency happen. Been there around 3 yrs ago. Doctors and staffs really good.

Great advice! Plus the clinic is free - the doctors are good.