Qataris represent over 20% of medical residents joining HMC this year
Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), Qatar’s largest, state-run, healthcare provider, is set to welcome 189 newly graduated medical doctors to join the acclaimed medical residency programmes provided through the Department of Medical Education.
Of the 189 new graduates, 58 are from the College of Medicine at Qatar University (QU), a statement from HMC explained. The others are from Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar.
Over 20% of successful applicants for a coveted residency placement at HMC are Qatari nationals, demonstrating the growing number of high-calibre local medical students in the country.
Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, deputy chief medical officer and director of Medical Education at HMC, said these young doctors will contribute to the delivery of Qatar’s future healthcare system as part of the National Health Strategy.
“We have worked closely with our academic health partners to ensure a high quality educational programme that focuses on ACGME competencies and that includes strong clinical training elements that include quality improvement understanding, good communication skills, medical professionalism and knowledge, which are important to create well-rounded and well-qualified young doctors.”
“We have well established affiliation and strong partnership with both medical colleges in Qatar and they are integral to Qatar’s strategy to foster a locally-developed and trained high quality medical workforce, which understands the local culture and healthcare needs of the population and is skilled and proficient in dealing with Qatar’s current and future healthcare needs,” said Dr al-Khal.
QU’s Medical College, which graduated its fi rst batch of new doctors in 2021, has been instrumental as a local academic partner in the development of the next generation of highlyprepared physicians. The 58 medical graduates from QU, who represent the second batch of graduates, will be starting in one of 21 residency programmes across HMC, most of which are ACGME-I accredited. This undertaking underpins the country’s strategic vision of strengthening Qatar’s own home-grown local medical professional talents and reducing dependency on international medical graduates.
“The new students from QU will be joining their peers from 2021 who are now well established in their respective training programmes,” Dr al-Khal pointed out.
“It has been a joy to see how they have thrived over the past year, which has been in part due to our rigour and commitment to the high standards of our internationally accredited programmes. Over the years we have seen many more residency applications as many medical graduates fi nd it attractive to do their specialisation and advanced training at our renowned healthcare institution because of the strong reputation of our education programmes,” said Dr al-Khal.
“While we continue to welcome international medical graduates to our professional education programmes, we look favourably at candidates who have interest in developing a career in Qatar and contributing to advancement of care, education and research across our health sector,” the HMC official observed.
“However, we also believe that a diverse population group will ensure a stronger team of professionals and one that is more reflective of the society they will care for. We are delighted that amongst the 58 Qatar University medical graduates joining our residency programmes this year, many are enthusiastic and highly competitive female graduates,” Dr al-Khal added.
HMC is the first healthcare system in the region to achieve prestigious institutional accreditation by ACGME International LLC (www.acgme-i.org). HMC’s Medical Education Department prides itself on having successfully achieved ACGME International programme accreditation for many of its medical residency training programmes and subspeciality fellowship programmes.
HMC sponsors 21 residency programmes in the diff erent specialities and more than 60 fellowship programmes in diff erent subspecialities. In addition, HMC is accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) as an Academic Medical Center.
HMC is also a member of Qatar’s Academic Health System, with a tripartite mission to advance clinical care through teaching, education, and research, and is a primary affi liate of both the medical schools in Qatar.