Shortage of staff and space is ruled out

A TOP government official has ruled out shortage of staff or space at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC).

Government hospitals’ chief executive Dr Ahmed Al Ansari told the GDN that facilities needed to be better utilised and resources revamped to improve services.

He was speaking at a virtual media briefing organised by the National Communication Centre yesterday.

“I don’t think we have issues with staff or space (at the SMC),” Dr Al Ansari said.

“It’s more about the right utilisation of all facilities.

“We may have to look into our resources as some of the equipment needs upgrading, while some others need to be replaced.

“SMC is an old hospital and it will not be like a bright new facility, but it doesn’t mean that our services are compromised.

“We offer the best.”

He said the biggest lesson that the pandemic taught was the right utilisation of manpower.

Distribution of manpower was done effectively at the onset of the coronavirus (Covid-19), he said.

“We have the national centre being set up under the Supreme Council for Health to facilitate research.

“Another important lesson we learned is the need to be prepared, as we don’t know about tomorrow.”

Dr Al Ansari stressed the need to ‘educate’ people on using the ambulance service.

“We have ambulances in the SMC and we manage the services effectively.

“However, there have been cases of adults with a headache or toothache calling for an ambulance.

“It is not about shortage of ambulance or paramedics – people need to be educated on how to use the service effectively by calling for it only in need.

“This way, we can take the load off the service and better utilise it for emergencies.”

The National Ambulance Services is under the Interior Ministry and its Public Security Operations director Colonel Hamad Al Khayyat recently said that a new mechanism helped reduce the waiting time for those seeking the facility.

He said an ambulance reached a patient within 18 minutes, while it left the centre within 12 minutes of receiving a call. The quick response was the result of a team classifying cases at a call centre, he said.

Source: https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/948179/Shortage-of-staff-and-space-is-ruled-out