First Filipino hospital planned in Qatar

Preparations are underway for the establishment of a Filipino hospital, based on a new model of community partnership in Qatar, an official of the Philippine Business Council-Qatar (PBC-Q) has said.

PBC-Q chairman Greg Loayon said the business council has been making rounds of different parts of Qatar to meet with the Filipino community members and orient them with the developments of the project.

In October last year, the PBC-Q accompanied executives from the Medical Mission Group & Health Services Co-operative Philippines (MMGHHSCP), led by its CEO, Dr Jose Tiongco, during a series of meetings with prospective Qatari investors.

The group proposed for the initial construction of a hospital to serve as a hub for secondary healthcare services.

The project will also extend “to multi-specialty clinics in major population areas manned by generalists and family medicine specialists and support staff,” according to Loayon.

Asked about the current status of the project, Loayon said: “The group is now working towards the incorporation of an entity that would be registered in Qatar once finalised.”

Since last month, Loayon said the business council has conducted information campaigns about the project to encourage Filipinos to become members of the entity, which will function like a membership corporation “such that the members, being stakeholders of the business, will benefit from the services of the hospital.”

“If we’re looking at 250,000 Filipinos in Qatar, we’re trying to reach out to at least 10% of the population. The information campaign is now in full swing and details of the succeeding meetings are posted online in the PBC-Q’s Facebook account,” Loayon told Gulf Times yesterday.

“Once completed, the project would be the first Filipino hospital outside the Philippines, and we’ve chosen Qatar to be its location,” Loayon noted.
The establishment of a Filipino hospital, Loayon said, would help address the Qatar government’s thrust to raise the level of the country’s health industry by expanding the availability of medical facilities.

He also noted that once operational, the hospital will not only cater to Filipino patients but also to other expatriate communities.

“The Philippines is known as one of the leading exporters of high-calibre healthcare professionals, and many foreign nationals look towards Filipino health professionals for a high level of medical care,” he said.